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PEOPLE 



FROM THE 



Other World. 



BY / 

HENRY S. OLCOTT, 

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED BY ALFRED KAPPES, AND T. W. WILLIAMS. 



" We have set it down as a law to ourselves to examine things to the 
bottom, and not to receive upon credit, or reject upon improbabilities, 
until there hath passed a due examination." — Lord BACON. 



vi 



ISSUED BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY, AND NOT FOR BALK IN THE BOOK-STORES. 
DENTS OP ANY STATES DESIRINO A COPY. SHOULD ADDRESS THE 
PUBLISHERS, AND AN AGENT WILL CALL UPON THEM. 



_HARTFORD, CONN.: 
AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

1875 . 

17 



ft^ V2.S \ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

Henry S. Olcott. 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 



The Author 

DEDICATES THIS WORK 
TO 

ALFRED R. WALLACE, F. R. S. 

AUTHOR OF "THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION," ETC. 
AND TO 

WILLIAM CROOKES, F. R. S. 

DISCOVERER OF THE METAL, THALLIUM, 

To mark his admiration of the moral courage they have recently 
displayed, in the investigation of the phenomena called spiritual : 
a sentiment which he holds in common with many thousands of his 
fellow-countrymen. 



PREFACE 



The volume which .is now laid before the reader will 
be found divided into Two Parts ; of which the First is 
devoted to a detailed description of the strange things 
seen, heard, and felt by the author at the Eddy Home- 
stead, in the township of Chittenden, Vermont; and the 
Second, to a report of a series of original investigations 
made by him in the city of Philadelphia, into the alleged 
materializations of John and Katie King, under test con- 
ditions ; to an account of the Compton " transfiguration ;" 
and to a copious Bibliography of the Occult Sciences. 

It has been no part of the author's plan to discuss 
modern Spiritualism in its moral aspect ; but, on the 
contrary, to treat its phenomena only as involving a 
scientific question which presses upon us for instant 
attention. It is written neither as a defence of, or attack 
upon Spiritualism, or Spiritualists. It is a truthful narra- 
tive of what befell in the Eddy Homestead, from the 
latter part of August to the first week in December, 1874. 
It was observed, by a leading New York journal, of the 
first, and by no means the most interesting letter written 
by the author from that place, that it was " as marvelous 
a story as any to be found in History." Its interest lay in the 
striking and highly sensational manifestations, of alleged 
spiritual origin, which it described ; the equal of which 
will be found in every chapter of this book. 

Twenty-seven years have elapsed since the Rochester 
rappings attracted the notice of the world, and we are 



PREFACE. V 

apparently not much nearer a scientific demonstration of 
their cause than we were then. Such consideration as 
men of scientific training have bestowed upon the ever- 
varying forms of manifestation, has been mainly of a 
desultory character ; and, while numerous converts to the 
new faith have been made among this class, the great 
body of their colleagues have held themselves aloof from 
the subject, as if it were something to be avoided as 
subversive of the established, and hence respectable, 
order of things. 

As early as 1857, the Faculty of Harvard University 
pronounced the opinion that "any connection with spirit- 
ualistic circles, so called, corrupts the morals, and 
degrades the intellect ; " and they even had the 
effrontery to say that they deemed it " their solemn 
duty to warn the community against this contaminating 
influence, which surely tends to lessen the truth of man, 
and the purity of woman." (!) In 1869. we find so little 
progress made that Mr. Huxley, one of the first scientific 
men of England, writes to the London Dialectical 
Society that he neither has the time to devote to art 
investigation of the subject, nor does it even interest him. 
" The only case of ' Spiritualism,' " says Mr. Huxley, 
" I ever had the opportunity of examining into for 
myself, was as gross an imposture as ever came under my 
notice." The average reader will, of course, see the 
syllogism : Mr. Huxley never saw but one case of 
' Spiritualism ' ; that case proved a gross fraud, and no 
Spiritualism ; therefore, Spiritualism is a fraud ! This is 
given as a fair specimen of the self-complacent disdain 
with which our scientific men view the question of the 
day. The American Association devoted hours of its 
Hartford meeting, last summer, to a discussion upon the 
social habits of the tumble-bug, and to the important 
fact that the Saraccnia variolaris (pitcher-plant) catches 
bugs ; but the members have no time to waste in investi- 
gating the astounding phenomenon of "materialization," 
the demonstration of whose verity would not only prove 
the immortality of the soul of man, but, as the Scientific 
American recently observed : 

" If true, it will become the one grand event of the world's his- 
tory ; it will give an imperishable lustre of glory to the Nineteenth 
Century. Its discoverer will have no rival in renown, and his name 
will be written high above any other. ... If the pretensions 
of Spiritualism have a rational foundation, no more important work 
has been offered to men of Science than their verification." 



Vi PREFACE. 

Mr. Crookes, after completing his first series of experi- 
ments with the medium Home, filed his papers with 
Professor Stokes and Professor Sharpey, the two secre- 
taries of the Royal Society, June 15th, 1871. The 
behavior of those gentlemen was what might have been 
expected. The first impulse was to rid themselves of it; 
the second, to smother it. These proving unavailing, 
they gave it the cold shoulder in a " Report on Mr. 
Crookes' Paper," of date August 7th, 1871, in which the 
writer, Professor Stokes, says : 

" I don't see much use discussing the thing in the sections* crowded 
as we already are ; but if a small number of persons in whom the 
public would feel confidence, choose to volunteer to act as members 
of a committee for investigating the subject, I don't see any objec- 
tion to appointing such committee. / have heard too much of the 
tricks of Spiritualists to make me willing to give my time to such a 
committee myself." 

Now this is the Committee that the author of this 
work had in view when it was begun. His aim has 
been to gather together into its pages, such a number 
of facts observed by him at Chittenden and Philadel- 
phia, as may induce a few men ' in whom the public 
would feel confidence' to volunteer and form a commit- 
tee to take up a philosophical inquiry into the 
phenomena, and pursue it until the now occult force 
behind them shall be discovered and demonstrated. 
He is not without hope that his object will be attained, 
for he is in receipt of information going to show that 
the subject is now the burden of correspondence 
between professors in certain universities The atten- 
tion of the scientific body is, for the first time in 
twenty years, seriously attracted, and we will not have 
long to wait before the debates of the American and 
British Associations will be devoted to worthier 
problems than some that now vex them. 

How some of the "crowding in the sections" is 
caused, may be learned by any one who will look at 
the Association's volumes of Transactions. These, for 
instance, among many others of like commanding 
importance, will be found in the Report for 1871, the 
most recent volume at hand : A Paper " On the 
ciliated condition of the inner layer of the blastoderm 
in the ova of birds," by B .T. Lonne ; "The minute 
anatomy of the stem of the screw pine (Pandanus utilis)," 
by Prof. Dyer ; " On the Essential oil of orange peel," 
by Dr. Wright and C. H. Piesse ; " On a fat woman 



PREFACE. vil 

exhibiting in London," by Sir D. Gibb ; " On Conser- 
vation of bowlders," by E. Milne-Home; "On the 
contents of a hyena's den, etc.," by Rev. W. S. Symonds. 

At the Hartford meetingof our American Association, 
besides the nonsensical debates upon the fly-catching 
flower, and the social habits of the tumble-dung beetle, 
the intellects of the members were taxed to consider how 
the lobster {Homarus vulgaris, — to be entirely respect- 
ful), casts its shell ; the nature of the generative 
organs of the shark; a new way of illustrating the 
vibration of organ-pipes; the wings of Pterodactyls; 
a notice of a pair of trap-door spiders; how the young 
birds peck out of the shell ; and the wonderful fact that 
a louse was used, in the Dismal Swamp, as a compass 
by a surveying-party ; that creature, or, at any rate, the 
one in the Swamp, having the habit of turning its head 
to the North, under all circumstances. 

Nice subjects, these, to be used as excuses for 
declining to observe and analyze the facts of modern 
Spiritualism ! How much more important to Science 
to know about lobsters and lice, orange-peel and fat 
women, blastoderms and hyenas' dens, than to explain 
how the law of gravity can be temporarily neutralized 
by some other, and unknown, force; how "death does 
not kill a man ;" how the resurrected spirit can reclothe 
itself with an evanescent, material form, by the power 
of its will over the sublimated earth-essences, suspended, 
invisible, in the air ; and what are the occult laws by 
which the pulse of this shadowy body can be made to 
beat, the lungs to respire, the lips to speak words 
thought by the mind within the frail tenement, which 
waits only the further exercise of its creator's will to 
redissolve into the impalpable atoms of which it was, 
a moment before, composed ! 

Much as the author desires to see this subject inquired 
into by men of scientific attainments, he could regard 
it as only a misfortune if they should set out with a 
disposition to prescribe impossible conditions. Before 
they reach the point where they would have the right 
to dictate their own terms, it would be necessary for 
them to make many observations, collect many data, 
and inform themselves about many things of which 
they are necessarily ignorant. They should realize the 
fact, succintly stated by Mr. Crookes, that Psychology 
is a branch of science as yet almost entirely unexplored, 



Vlll PREFACE. 

to the neglect of which is to be attributed the strange 
fact that not only the spiritual phenomena, but also the 
nerve or psychic, force, as it has been termed by that 
gentleman, "has remained untested, unexamined and 
almost unrecognized." 

Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, to whose eminent attainments 
as a scientific man the British Association has paid its 
hearty tribute, observes, in his pamphlet entitled " A 
defence of Modern Spiritualism," that : 

" The discussion in the Pall Mall Gazette in 1868, and a consider- 
able private correspondence, indicate that scientific men almost 
invariably assume that, in this inquiry, they should be permitted, at 
the very outset, to impose conditions ; and if, under such conditions, 
nothing happens, they consider it a proof of imposture or delusion. 
But they well know that, in all other branches of research, Nature, 
not they, determines the essential conditions, without a compliance 
with which no experiment will succeed. These conditions have to 
be learnt by a patient questioning of Nature, and they are different 
for each branch of science. How much more may they be expected 
to differ in an inquiry which deals with subtle forces of the nature of 
which the physicist is wholly and absolutely ignorant ! To ask to be 
allowed to deal with these unknown phenomena as he has hitherto 
dealt with known phenomena, is practically to prejudge the question, 
since it assumes that both are governed by the same laws." 

The researches of Professor Hare, Judge Edmonds, 
Mr. Crookes, Mr. Wallace, Sergeant Cox, Dr. Guppy, the 
astronomer Flammarion, and many others, prove that 
perfect test conditions are attainable ; but, at the same 
time, they show that the occult forces which play a part 
in the production of these phenomena will not subject 
themselves to the same identical limitations as chemical 
experiments, or others with which the scientific world is 
already familiar. Each has its own laws, and each 
demands of the student a line of research peculiar to 
itself. 

It has already been remarked that this work was not 
written from the spiritualistic standpoint. It is intended 
to show the progressive reflections of a mind (unbiased, 
of ordinary intelligence, anxious for the truth at any cost 
of preconceptions or prejudices), which is brought into 
relations with a series of unfamiliar and striking phe- 
nomena. It aims neither to display the trained shrewd- 
ness of the juggler, the profundity of the scientific 
investigator, nor the acuteness of the police detective ; 
but to reflect the careful and patient method of the 
average layman, whose sole object is to get at the facts, 
that he may have the means of forming an opinion for 



PREFACE. IX 

himself upon matters for which he finds no explanation 
at the usual sources of knowledge. 

It was the author's intention to embody in Part II the 
full text of certain remarkable documents, which show 
the attitude of affairs with respect to the conflict between 
Religion and Science, as well as the tone of the public 
press, in this country and Europe, in its discussion of the 
phenomena of spiritualism. But the limits of the volume 
were reached sooner than expected, in the arrangement 
of the original matter, and he was forced to confine him- 
self within narrower bounds. Moreover, just as he was 
completing the last Chapter of Part I, he received, 
through the Hon. Robert Dale Owen, an invitation from 
the Holmes' of Philadelphia, to investigate their medium- 
ship and the so called " Katie King materializations," 
under test conditions; and the importance of the subject, 
with the astounding developments which resulted, 
demanded that every remaining page of space should be 
devoted to it. 

It is safe to say that in whatever light the Holmes 
affair is viewed, it must be regarded as one of the most 
sensational stories in history. Whether we consider the 
perfectness of the supposed materialization, the circum- 
stances under which it occurred, the attendant phenomena, 
the scientific completeness of the tests given, or the 
pretended exposure of the alleged fraud, in the interest 
of Religion and good morals, it will be hard to find a 
parallel to the case. 

Nor will it escape the notice of the intelligent that the 
Philadelphia tests go far towards corroborating the Chit- 
tenden experiences; for, if " materialization " can occur 
in one place it may in many, and, hence, the supposition 
that real ghosts were seen at the Eddy house is made to 
appear only half as improbable. The cheerful alacrity 
shown by the Holmes' to submit themselves to crucial 
test conditions, makes the behavior of the Eddy boys 
appear in a correspondingly unfavorable light. It was 
alleged, as an excuse at Chittenden, that the author's 
magnetism was so positive and repellant to the spirits, as 
to prevent their bearing his near approach ; whereas, the 
fact appears to be that they can allow him to handle 
them, to gaze into their faces from a distance of six 
inches, and otherwise to come to closest quarters, with- 
out causing them the slightest inconvenience. What a 



X PREFACE. 

waste of golden opportunity the unfriendly behavior of 
the Eddy boys has caused ! 

And yet, if one may judge from a recent letter written 
by Horatio to a mutual friend, they entertain no personal 
dislike to the author, but were compelled to act as they 
did by the " spirit-bahd " controlling their circle. Horatio 
remarks that, in this matter, they were the slaves of the 
powers behind the phenomena, who, having gotten them- 
selves into antagonism with the author, forced him and 
his brothers and sisters to share that feeling for the 
moment. 

The relation of mediums towards their controlling 
spirits is perfectly denned in this letter from one of the 
most noted mediums — they are slaves. While 'under 
control,' their own will is set aside, and their actions, 
their speech, and their very consciousness, are directed 
by that of another. They are as helpless to do, or say, 
or think, or see what they desire, as the subject of the 
mesmerist, whose body is a mere machine governed by 
a will external to and dominant over itself. The 
'materializing medium' must even, it appears, lend 
from the more ethereal portions of his frame, some of 
the matter that goes to form the evanescent material- 
ized shapes of the departed. The observations of Mr. 
Crookes indicate that, in some cases at least, an enor- 
mous exhaustion of the medium's vital forces is caused 
by the exercise of his medianic function, and it is one 
of the problems before us to discover the extent and 
cause of this exhaustion, and whether any system of 
diet, exercise, repose and mental regulation will reduce 
it to a minimum without interfering with the 
phenomena. 

The seers of the Bible, the fakirs of India, the priests 
of Isis, and the vestals of Rome fasted and prayed, for 
longer or shorter periods, before entering the ecstatic 
condition. Should our modern mediums do likewise? 
And would fasting and prayer insure us against the 
pranks and deceptions of poltergeists^ or the malice of 
returning murderers, suicides, and drunkards? 

Since the spiritualistic movement has acquired such 
force and breadth that it cannot be stayed, how long 
must we wait for the wise men to tell us how we can 
enjoy the communion of the saints, and escape the 
assaults of the powers of darkness ? We ask them for 



PREFACE. XI 

light, and they give us no response. Our homes are 
seemingly invaded by an invisible host of good and 
evil spirits, and we turn in vain to scientific men for 
instructions as to how the one class may be detained, 
and the other expelled. They bend in laboratory and 
study, over wriggling insects and squirming reptiles, 
insensible of the glorified beings who stand perhaps, 
behind them, and blind to the magnificent field of 
research that lies before them in the direction of the 
Inner World. They leave us to grope our own way 
toward the Truth, and if we fall into error, we have the 
right to hold them accountable, for they are the custodi- 
ans of knowledge, our teachers, and guides. If they do 
not help us, we must search for ourselves. We cannot 
remain ignorant, for we are all urged on by : 

" The wish to know ; — th' insatiate thirst 

That e'en by quenching is awaked ; 
And that becomes, or blest, or curst, 

As is the fount at which 't is slaked.' 



No. 7 Beekman Street, 
New York City, January, 1875. 



H. S. O. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE EDDY FAMILY. 

Chittenden. — Its people. — First impressions. — Self-expose' of the 
Eddys. — The Author's reception. — History of the family. — 
The mother. — Hereditary witchcraft. — Children hired out as 
mediums. — Cruelties practised upon them. — The Homestead. 17 

CHAPTER II. 

THE EDDYS AS PUBLIC MEDIUMS. 
Cruelty of tests applied. — Horatio's diary. — Rope-tying. — Rep- 
resentation of every phase of mediumship. — Wonderful stories 
of the Eddy family. — Their present condition. — Indoor view. 33 

CHAPTER III. 

PERSONAL MATTERS. 
The Author's position. — Impertinent people. — Letters received. 
— Evidence of wide-spread interest in Spiritualism 53 

CHAPTER IV. 

A MOONLIGHT SEANCE. 
Surroundings of the Eddy Homestead. — Its visitors. — Honto's 
cave. — An out-door seance. — Indian ghosts. — Santum's grave. 
— An Editor's ghost. — No footprints left 57 

CHAPTER V. 

PORTENTS AND MARVELS. 

Trials of mediums. — Magnetism and mesmerism. — Universal 
belief in spirits. — Ancient mediums. — Animals as mediums. — 
Three wise men at sea. — Hostility of the church. — The Phan- 
tom Carriage. — Death portents. — Other marvels 68 

CHAPTER VI. 

WONDERS IN THE EDDY FAMILY. 
Living three lives. — Shadow of the father. — The lady on the 
white horse. — Story of Miranda Eddy. — Francis Lightfoot 
Eddy. — A child's death averted. — Records of warnings and 
portents. — The Spinning Ghost 89 

CHAPTER VII. 

A CHAPTER OF FEET AND INCHES. 

The Author takes an observation. — Infallible investigators. — 
Scientific skepticism. — Character of the Eddy phenomena. — 
Spirit-forms. — The Circle-Room. — Its inside and surroundings. 
— Thorough examinations 105 



CONTENTS. xiii 

CHAPTER VIII. 

MATERIALIZATION. 

Its history. — Salem witchcraft. — Immediate cause of the Eddy 
materializations 121 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE FIRST SEANCE. 

Opening of the circle-room. — The first seance. — The Author's 
visit — Music at seances. — First ghost, an Indian squaw. — The 
beating heart. — Indians and whites. — Children and grown 
persons 130 

CHAPTER X. 

MANY THANTOM VISITORS. 

Bright Star, Daybreak, Santum and other Indian ghosts. — Spirit 
of Col. Reynolds, of Utica, N. Y., brother and nephew. — 
Wm. Brown, over 6 feet high. — A Hartford family reunited. 
— Baby ghosts. — Spirit dissolves. — Imperfect materialization. 140 

CHAPTER XI. 

ARE THEY PERSONATIONS ? 

A review of William and his cabinet. — His education. — Re- 
examination of the cabinet. — Four hundred spirits. — A bogus 
investigator. — A dealer in thunderbolts 154 

•CHAPTER XII. 

IS IT AN OCCULT FORCE? 

Closest investigation demanded. — Spontaneous generation. — 
Psychology and Mind-reading. — Many questions. — A light- 
circle. — The baby-hand. — Mystery of mysteries. — Whence 
comes the power ? 169 

CHAPTER XIII. 

FULL OF STRANGE THINGS. 

Responsibility of Scientists. — A social dance. — Little Charlie. — 
A German spirit. — Ten spirits measuring heights — Table of 
time. — The malicious barber. — The smoking squaw. — Two 
voices at once. — Disappointed visitors. — Independence of the 
Eddys 1 S4 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE DARK-CIRCLE. 

Mayflower's story. — The Sailor ghost. — A Hurly-burly. — A strong 
test. — Wonderful result. — A musical performance. — A Clair- 
voyant's view. — A multitude of spirits 205 

CHAPTER XV. 

PHILOSOPHICAL TESTS. 

Ringing a table gong. — Ten spirits at a seance. — A light-circle. 
- — Card writing. — Picture drawing. — Heights of the spirits. — 
The scale test. — Weighing Honto. — A spirit's explanation. — 
Discoverers ridiculed 225 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

STARTLING PHENOMENA. 
A good test. — A spirit orator. — Strength of spirits tested. — The 
ring test. — Spirits welding copper. — Eccentric habits as tests. 247 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A CHAPTER OF MARVELS. 
Responsibility of the Author. — Spirit of an Arab. — Five Indian 
spirits. — Weighing spirits. — Diagram of platform. — Seance in 
another room. — Ground-plan of this room. — Thorough exam- 
ination. — Shawl manufacturing by Honto.— Spirits of woman 
and child. — Various spirits. — Mysteries 269 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

MORE WONDERS. 
The Witch of the Mountain. — What a lawyer saw. — A new 
arrival. — A Russian Lady. — Russian ghosts. — Georgian 
and Canadian spirits. — Georgian music. — A merchant's letters. 
— Mr. Peebles' certificate. — Spirits dissolve. — More Arabs.. . . 289 

CHAPTER XIX. 

GERMANS, KHOURDS, AND HUNGARIANS. 
A dark-circle. — Letters from spirit-children. — A wounded hand. 
— A Khourdish " Nouker." — Spear and plumes. — Nine talking 
spirits. — More shawl making. — Old Mr. Brown 314 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE DEAD ALIVE. 
Spirits. — A relative shocked. — A bogus Lord Byron. — An African 
juggler. — Wonderful feats. — Tape-climbing. — The horned 
jugglers of Egypt. — The maiden and lover. — Story of a bull. 
— Wonderful Eastern magic 326 

CHAPTER XXI. 

SPIRITUALISM VS. RATIONALISM. 
Forming opinions. — Popular anxiety. — Charmed circles. — Black 
magic and white. — Cowardly Editors. — Spirit animals 339 

CHAPTER XXII. 

SPIRITS AS CARRIERS. 
Fruits furnished by spirits. — Floral displays. — Stones carried. — 
Buckle from a Russian grave. — Various spirits 350 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

TESTS CONTINUED. 
Honto's hair examined. — Bell and glass. — No favors shown the 
Author. — What a Hartford man saw. — Honto plays the organ, 363 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

PSEUDO-INVESTIGATORS. 
Mayflower. — How are these things done ? — Spirit-wreaths. — A 
Dark-circle explained. — Wiseacres. — Ignorance and prejudice 
of writers. — Effects of investigations. — The Holmes phe- 
nomena. — John Brougham's views — The returned darling. — 
Value of tests. — The Eddys' standpoint 374 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SHAKERS AS SPIRITUALISTS. 

What Mr. Evans says. — Manifestations among the Shakers and 
Mormons. — Degrees of Spiritualism. — Oneida Community's 
report. — Mediums everywhere 392 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

SUMMING UP. 
The great conflict. — Science and Religion. — Narrative of facts. 
— Results. — Uses of Spiritualism. — " Murder will out." — Fare- 
well to Chittenden 406 

PART II. 



THE KATIE KING AFFAIR. 

THE COMPTON TRANSFIGURATION. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page. 

1 The Old Homestead {Frontispiece) 

2 The Eddy Brothers 19 

3 The Mother 25 

4 The Eddy Home (side and rear view) 31 

5 Tests by Committees 33 

6 Sufferings of Mediums 41 

7 The Dining Room 48 

8 Above and Below 51 

9 Graves of Mus. Eddy and Santum 59 

10 Konto's Cave 63 

1 1 Indisputable Materialization 74 

12 The Phantom Carriage 81 

13 Hidden Treasures 85 

-14 Buried Knife 101 

15 The Spinning Ghost '. 103 

16 The Ci ecle Room 110 

17 Inside of Cabinet 113 

18 View and Plan of Cabinet 117 

19 Honto Making Shawls and Blankets 138 

20 The Reunited Family 145 

21 Spirit-Form Dissolving 149 

22 Wm. Eddy (full length portrait; 156 

23 Tim Sleeping Medium 162 

24 Matkrialized Spiiiits 165 

25 The Light-Circle 178 

26 Contrast in Hands 181 

27 Well-known Forms 189 

28 The Smoking Squaw 195 

29 An Evening's Visitors Grouped 200 

30 Dix and Mayflower 207 

31 The Dark-Circle 212 

32 A Noted Medium 215 

33 A Clair voyant's View 221 

34 Freaks of a Young Squaw 227 

35 Spirit Card-Writing 232 

36 Fac-Simile of Spirit-Writing 235 

37 Fac-Simile of Spirit- Writing 236 

38 Measure and Weight 240 

39 Mrs. Eddy Addressing the Audience 251 

40 The Balance Test 255 

41 The Ring Test 261 

42 Comparing Heights 265 

43 Picture for the Artist 280 

44 Spirit-Forms 285 

45 Witch and Caucasian 296 

46 A Side Show 300 

47 A Merchant and Nurse 311 

48 Card, Fao-Simile 317 

49 Card, Facsimile 318 

50 A Strange Visitor 822 

51 A Spirit from Africa 329 

52 Tiie Buckle and Medal 357 

53 Arab. Russian, and Indian 361 

54 A Musical Spirit 372 

55 Spirit Wreaths . 377 

56 Table and Glass 381 

57 The Lost Darling 388 

58 The Murdered Woman Materialized 421 



PART I. 

THE EDDY MANIFESTATIONS. 



CHAPTER I 

THE EDDY FAMILY. 



SEVEN miles north from Rutland, in a grassy valley 
shut in by the slopes of the Green Mountains, lying 
high above the tide-water, is the little hamlet of Chit- 
tenden. There is nothing about it worthy of notice, and 
its sole claim to notoriety lies in the fact that it is the 
nearest post-town to the homestead farm of the Eddy fam- 
ily of spiritual mediums, whose fame has spread over the 
whole country. The people of the vicinage are, apparently 
with few exceptions, plain, dull, and uninteresting, seem- 
ing to know nothing and to care less about the marvellous 
things that are happening under their very eyes, or even 
the history of their section. Inhabiting a rugged country 
which exacts much hard labor for small pecuniary returns, 
they go the round of their daily duty, and trouble them- 
selves about nothing except to get the usual modicum of 
food and sleep. Their rare occasions of enjoyment are 
the days of the county fair, the elections, " raisings," 
huskings, and like country assemblages. Their religion 
is intolerant, their sect Methodist ; within the pale of 
which body all persons are good, without which all are 

17 



1 8 HORATIO AND WILLIAM. 

bad. The liberalizing influences that in more thickly 
settled localities have, for the past ten or twenty years, 
been leavening the whole religious world, seem to be 
unfelt in this secluded region. Towards the heterodox 
these people have no yearning bowels of compassion. 
Their weapons are both spiritual and carnal ; and I judge 
from the sad story of the Eddy children that these zealots, 
if suddenly driven out of their beloved church, would feel 
more at home under the wing of Mahomet than elsewhere, 
for when prayer has failed of conversion they have resorted 
to fire and the lash to bring the lamb within the fold. I 
recently visited this place in the interest of the New York 
Sun, and spoke of the relations between the Eddys and 
their neighbors in the following terms : 

" There is nothing about the Eddys or their surroundings to 
inspire confidence on first acquaintance. The brothers Horatio and 
William, who are the present mediums, are sensitive, distant, and 
curt to strangers, look more like hard-working rough farmers than 
prophets or priests of a new dispensation, have dark complexions, 
black hair and eyes, stiff joints, a clumsy carriage, shrink from 
advances, and make newcomers feel ill at ease and unwelcome. 
* * * They are at feud with some of their neighbors, and as 
a rule not liked either in Rutland or Chittenden. * * * 
They are in fact under the ban of a public opinion that is not pre- 
pared or desirous to study the phenomena as either scientific mar- 
vels or revelations from another world." * * * 

When I first began to write about these mediums, I 
became convinced that they had never done anything to 
deserve the reprobation of their neighbors, for a number 
of reports reflecting upon their character, upon being 
sifted, were discovered to be untrue. I could see preju- 
dice so ill concealed by the narrators, and ignorance of 
the domestic life, to say nothing of the mediumistic 



F ~ 




20 DISHONEST MEDIUMS. 

faculty of the members of the family, so plainly revealed, 
that perhaps I went to unnecessary lengths in my defence 
of their reputations. But since I began the work of 
revising my matter for this volume, I have met a former 
citizen of Chittenden, and a man of good character, now 
a resident of a distant city, who is knowing to the fact 
that some seven or eight years ago two of the Eddys gave 
an exhibition, or exhibitions, of certain of the commoner 
tricks of mediums, themselves included ; and I was 
furnished with the names of witnesses who can corrobo- 
rate the statement. It is not surprising, therefore, that a 
simple-minded people, prejudiced against everything that 
smacks of diabolism, and looking upon the Eddy ghost- 
room as a Chamber of Horrors, should hastily adopt the 
opinion that if they were false in the lesser " phenomena" 
they must be in all ; and conclude that a family who 
could publicly confess their dishonesty, for pay, had good 
reason to adopt a forbidding aspect to strangers, especially 
those who would be likely to discover the trickery which 
furnishes them a support. I am not, I am happy to say, 
of that class of pseudo-investigators which rejects the 
chance of finding truth in these marvels because mediums 
occasionally cheat. It has often, and justly, been said 
that the circulation of counterfeit coin is no proof that 
the genuine does not exist, but the reverse ; and the re- 
ports of most intelligent writers agree in the statement 
that nearly all public mediums occasionally simulate their 
phenomena when, from any cause, they cannot produce 
the real ones. Judge Edmonds and Mr. Robert Dale 
Owen both told me some years since that they had 
detected one of the best physical mediums in the United 



MEDI UMS NO T FREE A GEN TS. 2 1 

States, in trickery, thus corroborating my own experience 
with the same person ; and a well-known artist in Hartford 
says that he discovered Home, one of the greatest me- 
diums ever known, in acts of deception, both before his 
departure for Europe, and during a subsequent visit to 
this country. As to this matter of the Eddy self-expo- 
sures, the parties interested tell me that their exposure 
was a mere pretense, resorted to for the purpose of raising 
money when they were in a very needy condition. In a 
word, they cheated the public with a sham exposure when 
it would not come to see them in their character of me- 
diums. There can be but one opinion of such behavior 
as this ; and, therefore, while my narrative will contain 
all that can be said on behalf of the remarkable medium- 
ship, or apparent mediumship, of these boys, the reader 
will find that I shall not rely upon any of their manifes- 
tations that could be imitated by them, in working up my 
conclusions as to the reality of the phenomena. Such a 
course would be a waste of time and thought. 

I separate the medium from the man, considering him 
beyond a certain point an irresponsible being ; that is, if 
there is any such thing as mediumship. In neglecting 
this I think most investigators have hitherto erred. If it 
be true that persons of certain temperaments i-n this 
world may be controlled by persons in the other, then the 
mediums, being ccnitrolled, are not free agents, but ma- 
chines. A person of this kind may, therefore, be a very 
bad man but a very good machine. Furthermore, if the 
medium's actions while serving as such are beyond his 
control, he may, unless he be entranced, observe them 
just as any spectator, and, observing, may learn to 



22 MY RE CEP TION B Y THE EDD VS. 

imitate, with more or less perfection according to his 
natural intelligence and endowments. 

Thus I observed the Eddys at first in their double 
capacity, and determined at the outset not to allow any- 
thing they might say or do, or any of their surroundings, 
uncongenial with my own tastes or habits, to bias my 
verdict upon their claims as spiritual mediums. 

When I say that my first reception by the family was 
most inhospitable ; that during my visit of five days I 
never felt sure that at any moment I might not be 
requested to leave; that I was made to feel like an 
intruder whose room was preferable to his company; 
that I was struggling against all the prejudice one 
naturally would feel against persons who claimed to 
be able to summon an army of spirits from the other 
world; that I sat silent when members of the family 
made ungracious and threatening speeches against per- 
sons who might misrepresent them, clearly meaning 
me; that for fear my mission might be cut short and 
my ability to do my duty to my employers destroyed, 
I breathed not a word of my purpose to write for the 
newspaper, and left the place without having had a 
single opportunity to draw out their side of the story 
from the Eddys, the public has reason to admit that in 
saying what I did in their favor I was at least actuated 
by no feelings of partiality. 

I was glad, when my second visit was so unexpect- 
edly brought about, that things were just as they had 
been at the beginning, for I had heard all the evil 
stories in circulation and sifted them thoroughly, and 
was in a condition of mind to do justice to people who 



THEIR ANCESTORS. 23 

had not always acted so as to make friends, had few 
real ones, and fewer opportunities granted to lay their 
pathetic tale before the world. It was not because I 
had sympathy with their beliefs, nor that their welfare 
was a matter of greater personal concern than that of 
any other decent people, but because, in common with 
every one else, my good wishes went with the weak 
and oppressed, and this family had been worried and 
torn by the spirit of intolerance, as a sheep by wolves. 
Manhood revolts at the persecutions, cruelties, and 
indignities they have been called to suffer in conse- 
quence of the direful inheritance of mediumship that 
was bequeathed them in their blood — an inheritance 
that made their childhood wretched, and, until recently, 
life itself a heavy burden. To explain my meaning I 
will give some particulars of the family history as they 
have been communicated to me by the surviving 
children. 

Zephaniah Eddy, a farmer living at Weston, Vt, mar- 
ried one Julia Ann Macombs, a girl of Scotch descent 
who was born in the same town. She was first cousin 
to General Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, who changed 
his name to its present form, and was distantly related 
to a noble Scotch family. About the year 1846 Mr. 
Eddy sold his farm and removed to the present home- 
stead in the town of Chittenden. -/Mrs. Eddy inherited 
from her mother the gift of "foreseeing," as it is called 
among the Scotch, or more properly "clairvoyance," 
for she not only had previsions of future events, but 
also the faculty of seeing the denizens of the mysterious 
world about us, from whom she claimed to receive visits 



24 THE MOTHER. 

as commonly as though they were ordinary neighbors. 

Not only this, but she could also hold speech with 
them, hear them address their conversation to the 
inner self within her, utter warnings of impending 
calamities, and sometimes bring tidings of joy. Her 
mother before her possessed the same faculties in de- 
gree, and her great-great-great-grandmother was 
actually tried and sentenced to death at Salem for 
alleged "witchcraft" in the dark days of 1692, but 
escaped to Scotland by the aid of friends who rescued 
her from jail. Zephaniah Eddy was a narrow-minded 
man, strong in his prejudices, a bigoted religionist, and 
very little educated. 

His new wife instinctively withheld from him all 
knowledge of her peculiar psychological gifts, and for 
a time after their marriage she seemed to have lost 
them. But they returned after the birth of her first 
child stronger than ever, and from that time until the 
day of her death they were the source of much misery. 

Mr. Eddy at first made light of them, laughed at 
her prognostications, and forbade her giving way 
to what he declared was the work of the Evil One 
himself. He resorted to prayer to abate the nuis- 
ance, or, as he styled it, to " cast the devil out of his 
ungodly wife and children," and, that failing, to coer- 
cive measures, that proved equally inefficacious. 

The first child that was born had the father's tempera- 
ment, but each succeeding one the mother's, and each, at 
a very tender age, developed her idiosyncrasies. Mys- 
terious sounds were heard about their cradles, strange 
voices called through the rooms they were in, they 




THE MOTHER. 



SALEM WITCHES OUTDONE. 25 

would play by the hour with beautiful children, visible 
only to their eyes and the mother's, who brought them 
flowers and pet animals, and romped with them ; and 
once in a while, after they were tucked away in bed, 
their little bodies would be lifted gently and floated 
through the air by some mysterious power. In vain 
the father stormed and threatened : the thing went on. 
He called his pious neighbors together — Harvey Pratt, 
Rufus Sprague, Sam Parker, Sam Simmons, Charles 
Powers, and Anson Ladd — and prayed and prayed that 
this curse might be removed from his house. But the 
devil was proof against entreaty and expostulation, and 
the harder they prayed the wickeder the pranks he 
played. Then the infuriated parent resorted to blows, 
and, to get the evil spirit out of them, he beat these 
little girls and boys until he made scars on their backs 
that they will carry to their graves. It seemed as if the 
man would go crazy with rage. 

By and by, things got so bad that the spirits would 
" materialize " themselves in the room, right in the father's 
view, and, not being able to handle them after his usual 
fashion, his only refuge was to leave the chamber. The 
children could not go to school, for before long, raps 
would be heard on the desks and benches, and they 
would be driven out by the teacher, followed by the 
hootings and revilings of the scholars. This, it will be 
remembered, was just what happened to the children of 
the unfortunates who were hung for witchcraft at Salem, 
the sins (?) of the parents being cruelly visited upon the 
children. 

One night, when Horatio was four years old, a little 
2 



26 EXORCISING THE DEVIL BY FIRE. 

creature covered with a white fur suddenly appeared 
in the room where he and three of the other children were 
sleeping, jumped upon their bed, sniffed at their faces, 
and then began growing larger and larger until it turned 
into a great luminous cloud, that gradually shaped itself 
into a human form. The children screamed, and the 
mother running in hastily with a candle, the shape disap- 
peared. So year after year things went on, full of trouble 
and sorrow for all in the unhappy house. No wonder 
that I found them "curt," "repellant," and "sensitive,"' 
and suspicious and calculated to arouse suspicion. I 
think I would be likewise under like circumstances. 

Poor Mrs. Eddy's misfortunes did not cease with her 
husband's death in i860, but followed her even into her 
grave, as she one day in a prophetic vision told the 
children it would in the exact manner in which it hap- 
pened. When her death occurred (January 1st, 1873) it 
was intended that she should be buried by the Spiritualists, 
certain of whom had promised to be present, but it so 
happened that they were detained away, and two Metho- 
dist friends of the husband's acted as sole pall-bearers. 
As they were about to lower the coffin into the grave 
these two worthies fell into dispute about a. lawsuit that 
they had just had, and one, in his eagerness to get at his 
antagonist, dropped his rope and the poor lady was dumped 
e?id over end into the pit, and the coffin turned bottom side 
up. 

One surprising instance of the cruelty begotten by 
ignorance, is afforded in the means resorted to once to 
bring William Eddy out of a trance. Pushing, pinching, 
and blows proving in vain, Anson Ladd, with the father's 



THE CHILDREN RENTED AS MEDIUMS. 27 

permission, poured scalding hot water down his back, and, 
as a last heroic operation, put a blazing ember from the 
hearth on his head. But the lad slept on, and the only 
effect of this cruelty was the great scar that he has shown 
me on his crest. 

The father's scruples did not interfere with his willing- 
ness to turn a thrifty penny by an exhibition of the dia- 
bolical gifts of his progeny, for, after the Rochester 
knockings of 1847 had ushered in the new dispensation 
of Spiritualism, he hired three or four of the children out 
to one showman, who took them to nearly all the princi- 
pal cities of the United States, and to another who took 
them to London for a brief season. 

The children got all the kicks and he all the ha'pence 
in this transaction, and a sorry time it was for them. 
Passed through the merciless hands of scores of "com- 
mittees of skeptics," bound with cords by " sailors of 
seven years' experience," and riggers "accustomed to tie 
knots where human life was at risk," of carpenters with a 
fancy for other knots than those in their boards, of inven- 
tors who knew all sorts of "ropes" in addition to their 
particular steam-engines or threshing-machines, and such- 
like illuminati, their soft young metacarpal bones were 
squeezed out of shape, and their arms covered with the 
scars of melted wax, used to make the assurance of the 
bonds doubly and trebly sure. These wrists and arms 
are a sight to see. Every girl and boy of them has a 
marked groove between the ends of the ulna and radius 
and the articulation of the bones of the hand, and every 
one of them is scarred by hot sealing-wax. Two of the 
girls showed me scars where pieces of flesh had been 



28 MOBBED AND SHOT AT. 

pinched out by handcuffs used by " committees " — fools 
who seem to have been unable to discover suspected 
fraud without resort to brutal violence on the persons of 
children. 

And then the mobbings they have passed through ! At 
Lynn, Mass. ; South Danvers; West Cleveland, O., where 
William was ridden on a rail and barely escaped a coat 
of tar and feathers ; at Moravia, N. Y. ; at Waltham, 
Mass., where they had to fly for their lives ; at Dunville, 
Canada — in all which places their " cabinet " (a simple, 
portable closet, in which they sit for the manifestations) 
was smashed. They make no account in this catalogue 
of suffering, of the places where they were stoned, hooted 
at, and followed to their hotels by angry crowds. At 
South Danvers they were fired upon by hidden assassins, 
and William has the scar of a bullet in his ankle and 
Mary one in her arm to show for their picnic in that 
tolerant locality ! Horatio carries his memento of that 
place in a stab wound in his leg, and Lynn supplied him 
with ' the two tokens of a scar on his forehead, where a 
brick hit him, and a broken finger, the third, on his right 
hand. 

Ah ! these committees are often honorable gentle- 
men, as may be inferred from the fact that once when 
applying the " flour-test " — the placing of flour in the 
medium's hands after his wrists are tied, to detect him if 
he disengages his hands and plays upon the instruments 
himself — aquafortis was mixed in the flour, and shock- 
ingly burned Horatio's fingers; and once, when the 
musical instruments, horns, &c, were rubbed with rouge, 
so that the mediums might be betrayed by their discolored 



A FAIR INVESTIGA TION PREFERRED. 29 

hands if they should touch them, one of the committee, 
pretending to make a last examination of the knots, 
rubbed the hands of both the boys with rouge. In this 
instance, however, the base trick availed nothing, for, 
aware of what had been done, the Eddys called for the 
audience to look at their hands before the cabinet doors 
were closed, and the culprit was exposed. 

The reader will understand, from what I have said of 
their childhood experiences, that these poor creatures had 
little or no educational advantages, and their numerous 
correspondents will not be surprised at the illiteracy- 
shown in their letters. They will be surprised, on the other 
hand, when I say that I have heard words in six foreign 
tongues spoken, and conversation sustained in the same, 
by rappings by some of the phantoms whose appearance 
before me, during my present visit to the Eddy home- 
stead, I shall describe in future chapters of this true 
story. 

The Daily Graphic was pleased to say of a letter of 
mine from this place, that " the story is as marvellous as 
any to be found in history," an opinion that was reiterated 
by several of the most respected journals in other cities. I 
risk nothing in now saying that what I am about to narrate 
is far more extraordinary in every respect, and I expect to 
tax the public indulgence as to my veracity to the utmost. 
But I shall at least take good care to be within the 
limits of the truth, so that my story may be verified 
by any future investigator who is willing to scan closely, 
move cautiously to conclusions, and " nothing extenuate 
nor aught set down in malice." I went to Chittenden 
to discover the truth as to the " Eddy manifestations," 



30 THE EDD Y HOMESTEAD. 

and as I find things, so shall I describe them, caring 

nothing how much my own prejudices are affected by the 

result. 

The sketches that illustrate this chapter represent 

the Eddy homestead as viewed from the south-east,* 

rear, and north side. The house is the first frame 

building erected in Chittenden township, and for many 

years was a wayside inn. It comprises a main building 

and a rear extension, or L, of two stories, of which the 

lower is divided into a dining-room, kitchen, and small 

cupboard or pantry; and the upper, thrown into one 

room, is known as the " circle-room," or among the 

profane, as " the ghost shop." In the rear view, the 

kitchen door is seen at the hither end of the L part, 

and the square window in the gable-end gives light 

into the " cabinet " or narrow closet in which William 

i 

Eddy sits when the materializations occur. 



* See Frontispiece. 








/JEAR V'/EW. 



THE HOMESTEAD, (REAR AND SIDE VIEW.) 



CHAPTER II. 

TREATMENT OF PUBLIC MEDIUMS. 

THE story of the persecutions, mobbings, hardships 
and trials through which the Eddy children were 
obliged to pass, carries a moral with it, which 
the intelligent reader can hardly have overlooked. It 
must have been apparent that we are not dealing with 
the case of charlatans who have recently taken to the 
business of trickery for the sake of gain, for these girls 
and boys seem to have inherited their peculiar temper- 
aments from their ancestry, and the phenomena com- 
mon to most genuine " mediums" of the present day, 
attended them in their very cradles. It will scarcely 
be said that children who, like Elisha, were caught up 
and conveyed from one place to another, and in whose 
presence weird forms were materialized as they lay in 
their trundle-bed, were playing pranks to tax the cre- 
dulity of an observant public, which was ignorant of 
their very existence. It will not be seriously urged, I 
fancy, against youth, whose bodies were scored with 
the lash, cicatrized by burning wax, by pinching man- 
acles, by the knife, the bullet and by boiling water, 

33 



34 NO IND UCEAIENT FOR FRA UD. 

who were starved, driven to the woods to save their 
lives from parental violence ; who were forced to travel 
year after year and exhibit their occult powers for 
others' gain ; who were mobbed and stoned, shot at and 
reviled ; who could not get even an ordinary country- 
school education like other children, nor enjoy the com- 
panionship of boys and girls of their own age; — it 
will not be urged against such as these that they were 
in conspiracy to deceive, when they had everything to 
gain and nothing to lose by abandoning the fraud and 
being like other folk. The idea is preposterous ; and 
we must infer that, whatever may be the source of the 
phenomena, they are at least objective and not subjec- 
tive — the result of some external force, independent 
of the medium's wishes, and manifesting itself when 
the penalty of its manifestation was to subject the un- 
fortunates to bodily torture and mental anguish. 

We must turn back to Fox's "Book of Martyrs" if 
we would catch the diabolical spirit that has been ex- 
hibited towards these men during the fifteen years that 
they travelled the country to exhibit their wonderful 
gifts; for, while our times are not those of the Eighth 
Harry's cruel daughter, the feeling of intolerance in 
the Church towards these latter-day heretics, is substan- 
tially the same as that which sent Ridley and Latimer, 
Bradford and Cranmer to the stake, and caused Calvin 
to procure the death of his learned fellow-Protestant, 
Servetus. This is the first time within my knowledge, 
that this side of the medium question has been dis- 
cussed, and in the hope that the example may be imi- 
tated, I will show some of the barbarities inflicted upon 
these Eddy boys by "committees." 



PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS. 35 

To understand the matter, persons who have never 
attended a public spiritist exhibition should be told 
what the performance is like. In a public hall, upon 
the platform, is set tip a wardrobe, or " cabinet," made 
of half-inch walnut, seven feet high, six feet wide, two 
feet deep, and resting on trestles eighteen inches high, 
to permit a full view under the cabinet and satisfy the 
spectator that there is no communication through traps 
with its interior. The front is composed of three doors, 
the side ones swinging to right and left respectively, 
and the centre one to right. At each end inside is a 
narrow board seat, supported on cleats, and one of like 
width runs the width of the cabinet against the back 
wall. In the upper half of the centre door is a dia- 
mond-shaped opening, behind which hangs a black 
velvet curtain. The mediums enter, and, seating them- 
selves on the end seats, are firmly bound hand and foot 
by a committee selected by the audience, the cords 
being passed through auger-holes in the bench. Various 
musical instruments are placed within, beyond reach 
of the bound mediums, and, the doors being closed, a 
variety of curious phenomena occur. The instruments 
are vigorously played upon, loud percussive noises are 
heard, hands are thrust out of the opening, and other 
exhibitions occur that a strange force is at work. The 
cabinet doors, self-unbolted, suddenly open, and the two 
mediums are' discovered sitting as before, with not a 
single knot disturbed. 

The committees selected by vote of the audience, 
usually embrace men who are supposed to be unusually 
acute, such as detectives; skilful knot-tiers, such as 



36 CRUELTIES OF COMMITTEES. 

sailors and riggers ; and those whose education and in- 
telligence are likely to make them competent to fathom 
the philosophical mystery. In looking over the scrap- 
books of the Eddys, I find the newspapers, as a rule, 
reporting such choice of committeemen, and I also 
find there the evidences of the unnecessary cruelties 
practised in the interest of " science," " religion," " fair- 
play," and particularly of what these gentry are pleased 
to call " the truth." 

The reader will please observe that I have not relied 
upon the diaries or verbal statements of the Eddys 
themselves in making these strictures, but solely upon 
the testimony of the editorial descriptions of the whole 
press, for the journals of nearly every section are 
represented in this modern Book of Martyrs. Such 
details of the handcuffings and ligatures, the blister- 
ings and acid corrosions, the torture of constrained 
positions, of mouth-gags and halter-nooses, as the 
newspapers did not supply, I have filled in after getting 
the necessary explanations from the mediums, and the 
drawings were made from life. 

I cannot refrain from making a single quotation from 
Horatio's diary, under date of November, 1867, for it 
shows the patient, uncomplaining spirit that possessed 
the poor farmer-boy under his sufferings. It seems the 
most appropriate introduction I could make to these 
sketches. He says : " This day we suffered very much 
by severe tying and abuse from those who professed to be 
Spiritualists. But we like martyrs, bore our pain with 
fortitude. We thanked the Divine Power for preserving 
us from the gross treatment of our enemies. No mortal 




TESTS BY COMMITTEES. 



TESTING THE MEDIUMS. 39 

knows what brutish tying we submitted ourselves to. It 
would have made mother's heart bleed if she had known 
what her children were passing through in Canastota." 

How they were treated by the Canastota committee 
sketch No. 4 will show. 

Horatio was kept with one hand tied to his neck and 
the other to his manacled feet for three-quarters of an 
hour, the cord around his neck being so tight as to half 
choke him. 

The Little Falls, N. Y., investigators tried the pretty 
device shown in sketch No. 1. 

The medium is tied to a wooden T cross, by whip-cord 
passing through holes bored for the purpose. He was 
kept so for the space of an hour, until, owing to the tight- 
ness of the ligatures at the wrists, the blood trickled from 
under his finger-nails. 

Sketch No. 3 will recall a scene of rope-tying, to the 
minds of the good people of Albany, N. Y., who attended 
a seance at the house of John McClure ; a certain Doctor 
Perkins being the operator.- Here the medium is tied 
down by his fingers to the floor, the tapes being secured 
to the latter by tacks, and another tape leading to the 
door-knob. The worthy Doctor kept this patient in this 
position some two hours, and it is not surprising that his 
wrists were so swollen in consequence that he was kept in 
pain several days thereafter. 

Sketch No. 2 shows a common device of the wily com- 
mitteemen of Moriah, N. Y., and numerous other places, 
and the drawing requires no word of comment. 

Moriah, N. Y. (perhaps I do not get the name just 
right, but the Eddys cannot help me), is also responsible 



40 CRUEL DEVICES. 

for the cheerful " bucking " antidote, against charlatanry, 
seen in sketch No. 6, in which attitude the victim was 
obliged to stay two mortal hours, the spirits refusing to 
manifest themselves under such disturbed conditions, and 
the committee, with astonishing cruelty, declaring they 
would keep him there until they did. This happened at 
the house of Esak Colvin. 

In sketch No. 5 we have an illustration of ingenious 
barbarity worthy of the palmy days of the Inquisition : 

Two pairs of handcuffs each, on the wrists and ankles, 
a rope running through the links of each and passing out 
of the cabinet at top and bottom, and a halter-noose 
around the neck, drawn just tight enough to choke without 
quite strangling, made an applauding public feel secure 
against "humbug." Bristol, Conn,, richly deserves the 
credit for this apparatus, and the additional statement 
that it was applied for the space of nearly two and a half 
hours. 

Here, finally, in sketch No. 7, we have an effectual 
device to prevent the exercise of ventriloquial powers in 
imitation of spirit-voices, which has been tried in so 
many places (not to mention Sing Sing and other peniten- 
tiary establishments) that I forbear to recount them, lest 
I might weary. 

And now let us drop this disagreeable part of our 
subject. 

It matters little to me how the skeptical may undertake 
to account for these Chittenden mysteries — that concerns 
themselves alone. They may attribute them to elec- 
tricity, but if so, they will have to encounter scientists 
like Varley, the electrician of the Atlantic cable, who, 






SUFFKRINGS OF MEDIUMS. 



THE EDDYS AS MEDIUMS. 43 

after testing them by every electrical apparatus, with 
twenty-six years' experience to guide him, declares that 
that subtle agent has nothing whatever to do with their 
production ; of the late Professor Hare, who made the 
same statement after two years of careful inquiry; of 
Elliotson, Puysegur, Crookes, Bell, Collier, Gully, the 
French Academicians, and the London Dialectical 
Society. If they say it is " animal magnetism "they must 
face an army of specialists who have exhausted every 
endeavor to explain away the phenomena as coming 
under this category. The knee-pan, toe-joint and knuckle 
worthies, as a class, die a natural death as soon as we get 
beyond the mere Rochester rappings of 1847, and I feel 
confident that if Professors Huxley and Tyndall would 
spend a fortnight at Chittenden, they would see their 
protoplasms and such like scientific soothing-syrups flying 
out of the window upon the entry of the first material- 
ized ghost from William Eddy's closet. 

It is scarcely exaggeration to say that this family of 
mediums, if we may believe their story, is the most re- 
markable as to psychological endowments of which men- 
tion is made in the history of European races. Perhaps 
among the Chinese, and certain tribes of India (the 
Yogiswaras, for instance) and of Egypt, parallel cases may 
be found, but such have not met my eye in the course of 
a somewhat extensive reading in this branch of literature. 

The Eddys represent about every phase of medium- 
ship and seership : — rappings; the disturbance of 
material objects from a state of rest ; painting in oil and 
water-colors under influence; prophecy, the speaking of 
strange tongues ; the healing gift ; the discernment of 



44 EXPERIENCES OF MEDIUMS. 

spirits ; levitation, or the floating of the body in free air ; 
the phenomena of instrument playing and the show of 
hands ; the writing of messages on paper upborne in mid- 
air, by pencils held by detached hands ; psychometry, or 
the reading of character and view of distant persons 
upon touching sealed letters ; clairvoyance ; clair- 
audience, or the hearing of spirit-voices; and, lastly, and 
most miraculous of all, the production of materialized 
phantom forms, that become visible, tangible, and often 
audible by all persons present. 

Much account has been made of the story told by Lord 
Dunraven and Lord Adair (and, I may mention, confirmed 
to me personally by the latter gentleman), of Mr. Home's 
having been " floated " out of one third-story window at 
Ashley House and into another ; but what will be thought 
of Horatio Eddy having been carried, one summer night, 
when he was but six years old, a distance of three miles 
to a mountain top, and left to find his way home next 
day as best he could ; of his youngest brother Webster, 
when a grown man, being carried out of a window and 
over the top of a house from the presence of three wit- 
nesses (from' two of whom I have the story), and landed 
in a ditch a quarter of a mile off; of William being 
carried to a distant wood and kept there unconscious for 
three days, and then carried back -again ; of Horatio 
being " levitated " twenty-six evenings in succession, in 
Buffalo, in the Lyceum Hall, when fast bound in a chair, 
and hung by the back of the chair to a chandelier hook 
in the ceiling, and then safely lowered again to his former 
place on the floor ? Of Mary Eddy being raised to the 
ceiling of Hope Chapel, in New York city, where she 



THE AUTHOR'S Or IN IONS. 45 

wrote her name ? Of her little boy, Warren, five years 
old, who is floated in dark-circles, screaming to be let 
down all the while ? Of a little son of Stephen Baird, 
of Chittenden, a neighbor of theirs, who has been 
handled in the same way ? 

Mr. Home is not the only one besides the Eddys who 
has been thus transported through mid-air, for, since 
1347, authenticated reports will be found in the books 
of a like thing happening to Edward Irving, Margaret 
Rule, St. Philip of Neri, St. Catharine of Columbina, 
Loyola, Savonarola, Jennie Lord, Madame Hauffe, and 
many others whose names I do not at present recall, 
and in the absence of a library cannot transcribe. 

Does any one care to ask me what I think ? I answer, 
Nothing; I watch and w r ait and report, holding myself 
open to conviction in the spirit which the great Arago 
describes in an old article on Mesmerism : " The man 
who, outside of pure mathematics, pronounces the word 
' impossible,' is wanting in prudence." 

I make no apology for having now devoted two pre- 
liminary chapters to personal details respecting the 
Eddy family history ; for the intelligent reader, before 
he could give credence to the miraculous events that I 
shall describe as occurring in their presence, would of 
necessity ask what sort of people they are — whether 
they were of suspicious antecedents, whether they had 
amassed a fortune by their exhibitions, whether they are 
making money by them now, or what motive impels 
them to continue in their present public relation? I 
stated above that they travelled for the profit of others; 
by which I meant to say that when William, Horatio, 



46 PRESENT CONDITION OF THE EDDYS. 

and Mary were young children, their father, having 
failed to cowhide their demons out of them, hired them 
out to a showman for four years, they receiving nothing 
but their bare expenses ; and that at the expiration of 
that time they were hired by various other speculators, 
and during the ensuing eleven years received an aver- 
age of under ten dollars a month apiece. I mean, fur- 
thermore, to say that their house and farm would not 
sell for $3,500, all told ; that they do all their house- 
work themselves; that half their visitors are poor and 
sponge on them for board, and, the other half paying 
eight dollars per week, the family have saved enough 
to put some necessary repairs on the house ; and finally 
that they unite in saying that the greatest good fortune 
that could befall them would be to have their medium- 
ship cease, so that they might work like other farmers 
and enjoy life like them. They are the galley-slaves 
of the invisible powers back of the " manifestations," 
who not only obsess them at their caprice by day while 
about household duties, and in the evening during the 
regular circles, but pursue them in the silent watches 
of the night, playing the pranks of the old-time polter- 
geists, and making it uncertain whether or no they will 
wake in bed or in the crotch of some tree on the sum- 
mit of an adjacent mountain. 

The sketches which accompany this chapter represent 
with fidelity the appearance of the dining-room, kitchen, 
and pantry, or buttery, over which extends the one 
large room where the nightly circles are held. They 
are intended to show that no trap-doors afford to con- 
federates the opportunity of communication from below. 



KITCHEN, PANTR Y AND DINING-ROOM. 49 

The dining-room communicates directly with a large 
apartment in the main part of the house, now used 
for a general sitting and reception room, but which, 
until the new hall was built, was the circle-room. The 
kitchen and pantry are side by side, beyond the dining- 
r^om, and separated from it by a lathed and plastered 
partition, with doors joining from each into it. There 
is also a door which gives communication from the 
kitchen to the pantry through their dividing longitu- 
dinal partition. The ceilings of kitchen and pantry 
are lathed and plastered. The kitchen is an odd, dingy 
little place with smoky walls and a worn floor, but it 
affords a retreat for the family when the house is 
crowded with visitors; and such of the latter .as at 
such times are privileged to sit with " the boys " about 
the cooking-stove, and smoke a pipe, and chat upon 
the day's topics, are regarded with much of the same 
envy as the favorite at Court, who is passed by obse- 
quious lackeys into the presence, while the rest cool 
their heels in the corridor. 

I have had my days of favor, like the courtier, and 
passed many a pleasant hour in this little kitchen, 
in an atmosphere so dense with pipe- smoke that we 
could barely see each other across the room. I have 
sung my songs and told my comic stories, and heard 
Horatio sing his songs, and William tell, in his own 
pathetic way, of the cruelties he suffered in boyhood, 
and I really fancied that by keeping on my good 
behavior, I might be allowed to do my work pleasantly 
and thoroughly. But — however, I will not anticipate. 

If the reader will turn to the rear view of the Eddy 



50 SEARCHES FOR ERA UD. 

homestead, he will observe in the gable of the L exten- 
sion, just over the square window of William's cabinet, 
two other windows. These light a cock-loft over the 
circle-room. I confess that it never occurred to me to 
go up there and see what sort of place it might be, as 
after careful inspection of the room itself I was satisfied 
that no communication existed between the two ; but 
one afternoon a lady visitor, subject to trance obses- 
sions, and professing to be influenced by a spirit at the 
time, called my attention to the fact that, with all my 
shrewdness, I had overlooked this cock-loft. Though 
I could not imagine how spirit or mortal could detect 
the omission in th£ pencilled notes in my pocket diary, 
I nevertheless went up a ladder in the adjoining vesti- 
bule, and, creeping through ancient cobwebs, from 
rafter to rafter, I saw that there was nothing worth 
coming to see. The mystery could not be solved 
there. 




ABOVE AND BELOW. 



CHAPTER III. 

/ 

■ PERSONAL MATTERS. 

take it for granted that the conductors of two of 
the great New York dailies would not have succes- 
sively engaged me to investigate and describe the 
phenomena at the Eddy homestead, if they had supposed 
me either of unsound mind, credulous, partial, dishon- 
est, or incompetent; and I, therefore, beg the numerous 
company of correspondents who have addressed me 
upon the subject, to spare themselves the trouble, and 
me the annoyance, of their letters. 

"Proffered advice stinks," sayeth an old Arabian 
proverb more notable for strength than refinement. I 
know what I am about, and mean to tell just what I 
saw and how I saw it. To the impertinent people, of 
many localities, whom I never laid eyes upon, who 
ask of me to have secret writings read, lucky lottery 
numbers disclosed, and to write theses upon Spiritual- 
ism, to remove their skepticism, I have nothing to say 
except that their letters go into the nearest grate. I 
certainly do not care the value of a brass farthing 
what they believe or disbelieve. If I truthfully report 

53 



54 A DOCTOR IN TROUBLE. 

the facts, each has the same chance as myself to make 
his theory to fit them. 

Imagine an Indiana physician sending a dirty pack- 
age, stitched by a sewing machine, and coolly asking 
me, a perfect stranger, to furnish him the ammunition 
to blow up either himself or the Spiritualists, in the 
following terms, which I give verbatim : 

I have read all the subtile arguments of the Spiritualistic profes- 
sors, am pretty well posted in all their talk of " conditions," &c, &c, 
but 1 want a real material "sign," — a test that will be palpable and 
beyond dispute. 

I hereby enclose to you a test that " will convince the Jews," if it 
can be unravelled. Here are several envelopes, each fastened by a 
diflerent process, and all of difterent shape, that cannot be opened 
without my knowing it. In the centre one are some words written 
in a peculiar manner. 

Now I would like to have this same envelope returned to me, as 
it is, and with it also a description of the written words just as they 
are written. This will convince me that there is an intelligence 
beyond earthly intelligence in existence, and I shall find no difficulty 
in ascribing this intelligence to disembodied spirits. If the kind 
spirit will tell the number of envelopes and describe each, — tell 
from what kind of a slip the paper was cut upon which the words 
are written — it would of course make the matter more interesting. 

* * * * * * 

Why do I write you ? I will tell you. You appear to be like 
myself, not yet convinced, yet interested enough to take some trouble 
to test the matter further. 

* * * * * * 

I am now engaged upon an article on the subject of Spiritualism, 
in which I shall explain — or attempt to explain — the whole matter 
under three heads : First, Juglary ; second, Superstition ; and third, 
Insanity. 

I shall wait a reasonable time to hear from you before I continue 
it, as a solution of this test will spoil all my arguments, speculations, 
and sophisms. 

And a St. Louis person asking to be told what lottery 
ticket to buy, thus : 
* * * Believing, if the manifestations are genuine, that 



A N A NX JO US MA I DEN. 5 5 

they have the power to foretell coming events, &c, and seeing no 
reasons why I may not ask a question through you and this letter, 
I would especially beg to be informed of the number that will draw 
the capital prize in the Louisville lottery, next November. 
Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain, sir, yours truly. 

Here is an Illinois damsel who seems to have more 
affection for the neighbor who visited the gypsy camp 
than for Lindley Murray : 

Being very anxious to know something of the future, thought I 
would write you and tell you what I wanted to know, and that if 
you charged me anything, to tell me so in your answer, and I would 
willingly pay you. Will you please tell me what year and day in 
the month myself and my sister next oldest to me will be married. 
Also give us a description of our future husbands and what their 
occupation will be in life. 

And will you please tell me how long it will be before my mother 
will be married, she being a widdow lady. Also have a half-brother 
who is owing a debt in another State ; would like to know if he 
will ever pay that debt up. 

Also there is a gentleman, near neighbor, visited camp of gypsies ; 
would like to know if he had his fortune told while there ; also 
please describe the lady he will marry. 

One more example will suffice. This comes from 
Alabama : 

I would like to learn the history or genealogy for my family. All 
I know is that one of my progenitors was a Stewart [steward?] in 
some lord's family in Europe, and ran off and married the said lord's 
daughter. I don't know the name of my progenitor (the given 
name), or the name of the lord or his daughter. Please try to learn 
what each of their names were, when married and where, and where 
the lord resided, the names of his children and grandchildren down 
to my father, what my father's name was and when he died, in fact, 
all that can be gained in regard to the genealogy of my family. If 
you will do so, I will be under lasting obligations to you, although a 
stranger. 

If, upon a revision of my MSS. for this work, I pre- 
serve these communications for permanent reference, it 
is in the hope that I may be passed over by that great 



56 CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EDDYS. 

company of idle persons, who employ the time that 
hangs heavy upon their hands to persecute those of 
their fellow-men who are temporarily thrust before the 
view of the public. I do not, for one moment, admit 
the right of those who have never fitted themselves for 
discussing profound subjects, to intrude their crude 
notions and inconsequential personalities upon the 
busy privacy of men engaged in the serious concerns 
of life. 

The Eddys get such letters as these by the score, 
often as many as forty or fifty by every mail, and I 
might make this volume more humorous, if not more 
interesting, by quoting examples ; but I spare the 
reader. 

I have been greatly impressed by this evidence of the 
wide interest in the subject of Spiritualism; as I have 
also of the publicity that any novel or exciting story 
gains by re-publication in the newspapers. I recollect 
that Bayard Taylor told me once, that at the foot of the 
Himalayas, in a garrison library, he encountered some of 
his own works, and described the deep impression then 
made upon his mind of the responsibility devolving upon 
a person who writes for the press. I trust I shall bear 
the lesson in mind in all that is written for these pages. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MOONLIGHT MATERIALIZATIONS. 

UDE and uninviting as is the Eddy house itself, its 
surrounding landscape is truly charming. Lying in 
a valley, it affords from every window the view of 
grassy slopes, backed by mountain peaks that catch the 
drifting clouds on days of storm, and on those of sunshine 
take on rich tints of purple and blue. Just back of the 
house stretches a bottom pasture land, whose sod is so 
bright a green that I have wished a score of times that one 
of the Harts, or Smillie, or McEntee, or some other of 
our landscapists could transfer it with its grazing herd 
and noble background to canvas. The woods are just 
beginning to clothe themselves in their royal autumn 
hues; and from mountain foot to summit, crimson and 
gold mix with the prevailing mass of green, like jewels 
embroidered on nature's robe of state. But there appears 
to be slight evidence that this scenery has exercised an 
ennobling effect upon the inhabitants. They are usually 
a prosaic set, and I have vainly watched for any respons- 
ive glow when I have called their attention to the natural 
beauties around us. The Eddys themselves form rather 

57 






5 8 THE SURROUNDINGS. 

an exception to the rule. True, they waste no enthusiasm 
upon their familiar hills and valley, but the tenderness of 
their hearts is shown in the gathering of pet pigeons, 
dogs, parrots, ducks, and chickens, about them, and their 
innate refinement, by the hours snatched from menial 
toil, to water and trim their plants and flowers. The 
neighboring graveyard is a neglected plot of weeds, but 
their family enclosure is bordered by maples, and the 
graves are tended by loving hands. The headstone over 
poor Mrs. Eddy is so characteristic of the altered view 
of the change called death that a belief in Spiritualism 
begets, that I give a sketch of it. 

English visitors to this place would find abundant 
relaxation in long walks or mountain climbing, but we 
Americans avail ourselves little of the privilege. In the 
depths of the woods the black bear stills prowls ; foxes 
abound ; sables, mink, raccoons, hedgehogs, and occasion- 
ally panthers, await the pursuit of the hunter; and 
speckled trout throng the cold mountain streams to a 
sufficient extent to afford sport to the votaries of the rod 
and fly. But the minds of the people who come from far 
and near to this Vermont homestead, are so bent upon 
the pursuit of the marvellous, that all day long they sit 
and talk of last night's circle and past wonderful personal 
experiences, until one fairly gets a surfeit of the subject. 

They are a motley crowd, in sooth. Ladies and gentle- 
men; editors, lawyers, divines and ex-divines; inventors, 
architects, farmers ; pedlers of magnetic salves and myste- 
rious nostrums; long-haired men and short-haired women; 
the " crowing hens " of Fowler, and the cackling cocks, 
their fitting mates ; women with an idea, and plenty of men 



THE VISITORS AT THE HOMESTEAD. 61 

and women without any to speak of; people of sense and 
people of nonsense ; sickly dreamers who prate of 
" interiors ' and " conditions " and " spheres " as intelli- 
gently as a learned pig or a chattering magpie ; clair- 
voyants and "healers," real and bogus; phrenologists, 
who read bumps without feeling them, under " spirit 
direction"; mediums for tipping, rapping, and every 
imaginable form of modern spiritual phenomena; 
" apostles " with one and two arms ; people from the 
most distant and widely-separated localities; nice, clever 
people whom one is glad to meet and sorry to part from ; 
and people who shed a magnetism as disagreeable as 
dirty water or the perfume of the Fetis-Americanus. 
They come and go, singly and otherwise ; some after a 
day's stay, convinced that they have been cheated, but 
the vast majority astounded and perplexed beyond expres- 
sion by what their eyes have seen and their ears heard. 

Through all, the family jog on in the even tenor of 
their unsystematic way, receiving new-comers with dis- 
trust, and letting life slide after a happy-go-lucky fashion. 
Those who stay longest with them have the most 
confidence in their mediumship, for they discover that 
their external misanthropy and curtness are the outcome 
of years of sorrow and injustice, the result of poor educa- 
tion and bad training. More than any man I ever met, 
William Eddy lives an interior life ; and to be in relation, 
or supposed relation, with the people of the Silent Land, 
seems as natural to him as it ever was to the ecstatics of 
the early centuries or the recluses of Brahma. 

Among the few favorite localities of the neighborhood 

are " Honto's cave " and Santum's grave, of both of 
3 



6 2 "HON TO 'S CA VE. n 

which the artist has supplied illustrations from sketches 
taken on the spot. 

The term cave is a misnomer in this instance, for the 
rude apartment by which the sprightly squaw's memory 
will be perpetuated is, like the "Cave" in Central Park, 
formed by the leaning of one great fragment of rock 
against another. It lies in dense shadow at the bottom 
of a ravine, so shrouded in foliage that the cheerful sun- 
light scarcely penetrates the spot even at high noon. A 
clear mountain brook running through it ceaselessly 
awakens its tiny echoes, and the surface of its rocky walls 
is scarred in so curious a manner as to convey the 
impression that the furrows are the half-effaced inscrip- 
tions of some pre-historic people. A path, scarcely prac- 
ticable for a wider foot than that of the chamois or the 
mountain goat, runs along one of the steep banks, and 
the wood resounds with the bubble of the streamlet. 

The sketch of the cave was drawn by Mr. Kappes 
from nature, the figures only being supplied from a 
published account of a spiritual seance held there on the 
24th of May 1874, and the descriptions of eye-witnesses. 
There were present on the occasion in question, among 
others the following persons, who may be referred to in 
corroboration of my story ; Mr. Andrew Beebe, Ludlow, 
Mass. ; Charles Wakefield, Boston ; James Little, Lake 
George, N. Y. ; Mrs. Caroline Goss, Hudson, Wisconsin 
(West Conson, Horatio wrote it, and perhaps " Hudson " 
means Madison) ; Mary E. Jewett and Albert Frost, 
Rutland, Vt. ; and the Eddy family. 

The night was warm, and a full moon rode high in the 
heavens. The company assembled at an early hour, and 
seated themselves on benches, formed by laying boards 




HONTO'S CAVE 



INDIAN GHOSTS. 65 

on convenient bowlders. In the arched mouth of the 
cave, Messrs. Saley and Frost had constructed a rude 
framework of joists, to support a curtain of shawls; green 
branches were piled in the farther end, so as to form a 
backing ; and boards, loosely laid across the little brook, 
made a platform upon which the medium might sit on a 
camp-stool. In composing his sketch, the artist has been 
obliged to omit the curtain and most of the bough back- 
ing, so as to permit the light to shine through, and show 
the arrangement of the platform and framing. 

The spectators at this weird gathering sat silent for 
awhile, and the stillness of the forest was broken only 
by the noise of the brook, the chirp of insects, and 
the rustle of the leaves as they stirred in the warm wind 
of spring. Suddenly the curtain was pushed aside, and 
the form of an Indian, fully accoutred, came out, stepped 
into the stream, and, stooping, made the motion of drink- 
ing some water from his hand. All eyes were riveted 
upon him, when some one suddenly exclaimed : " See ! 
— up there — on the rock ! " and high overhead appeared 
the giant spirit form of Santum in bold relief against the 
moonlit sky. Presently an Indian squaw was seen upon 
the verge of the rocky ledge to the right, peering down 
upon the startled group. Thus, at one time, three ghostly 
visitors were in sight, and while the audience gazed, all 
three disappeared. Then successively appeared at the 
cave's mouth, Honto, who knelt and made as if drinking 
from the brook, and several other red squaws and chiefs, 
each dressed after his or her own fashion, with plumes 
and beads, and the other braveries these simple aborigines 
love so well ; William Eddy, meanwhile, talking within 
the cave so as to be heard by all. 



66 SANTUM'S GRAVE. 

A spirit-voice presently called out that they had been 
there long enough, and if they would go to the old Indian 
camp-ground hard by, more wonders would be shown 
them. The spot indicated is a level plateau not far from 
the Eddy house, and bears the traces of former councils 
in a circle of ancient hearths, where, beneath the sod, are 
to be found the vestiges of fires long since extinguished. 
Great maples, beeches, and here and there an oak, stand 
about the camping ground; giant sentinels, beneath 
whose shade, within the memory of men now living, the 
relics of once powerful tribes were accustomed to gather 
from time to time to celebrate their feasts. At one side 
a flat bowlder set on end, marks the spot where Santum t 
(or, perhaps, in view of his frequent appearance before 
my eyes in his spiritual form, I should say his body)" was 
buried. He might, if one familiar with the classics should 
suggest it, say to me upon some occasion when we should 
meet in presence of the right kind of a medium, what 
Socrates did to his friend Crito, when asked by the latter 
where and how they should bury him. " Bury me in any 
way you please, if you can catch me to bury. . . . Say, rather, 
Crito, say if you love me, where shall you bury my body." 

Santum's tumulus has almost- disappeared under the 
wash of a thousand rains, and a large maple, whose 
trunk at four feet from the ground measures four feet 
seven inches in girth, has sent its roots into the chief- 
tain's dust, and, for aught 1 know, may have incorpo- 
rated it in the cells and fibres of its own heart. Upon 
the sketch will be noticed a rude cross chiselled in the 
stone by one of the Eddy boys. 

But, to resume our story : 



AN EDITOR 'S GHOST. 67 

Our wonder-seekers having reached the place indi- 
cated by the spirit-voice, hastily improvised a " cab- 
inet" by pinning some shawls around the trunks of 
three trees, and William entered it. After a brief in- 
terval, the phantom shape of Achsa Sprague, a medium- 
istic speaker of some note among the Spiritists, emerged, 
and in a natural voice, addressed her hearers upon the 
one absorbing topic for about fifteen minutes ; her form 
and the very play of her features being clearly revealed 
in the bright moonlight. She was followed by Mrs. 
Goss' brother, who walked some twenty feet from the 
" cabinet ; *' and next by an Indian, who ventured a like 
distance away from his medium, and then swung him- 
self up on the branch of a tree and vanished. 

The evening's wonders closed with the appearance 
of the spirit of the late William White, editor of the 
Banner of Light, the principal organ to the new 
creed. Mr. White was dressed in black broad-cloth, 
and had on a white shirt with studs in the bosom, 
whereas William wore his usual rough working suit, 
and brown check shirt without collar or cuffs. In his 
hand the spirit held a copy of the journal he once 
edited, which he opened, and showed the characteristic 
heading that the publication of thirty-five successive 
volumes has made familiar to thousands of persons. 

The next morning Messrs. Saley and Swift revisited 
the cave to search for foot-prints in the soft earth, at 
the places where any mortal climbing the rocks would, 
of necessity, have trodden, but there were none to be 
seen. The spectres had materialized themselves on the spots 
where they had respectively been seen. 



CHAPTER V. 

PORTENTS AND MARVELS. 

IF a competent person were to collect and arrange in 
picturesque form all the psychological experiences of 
the Eddy family, as related by them, the result would 
be a book of as romantic interest as the story of Zschokke's 
life. But I hardly think that the mere gift of clairvoyance, 
to say nothing of absolute mediumship can be esteemed 
a great personal blessing. I doubt if man's relations to 
his own world are not so exacting as to make it the 
reverse of beneficial, at least to himself, to be in constant 
and close sympathy with the other. The visions of the 
lucide are beatific, but do they not make him less satisfied 
to pursue his homely round of duty upon re-awakening ? 
If one goes from bright sunshine into a cellar his eye 
feels the darkness more dense than it really is. The 
place has not changed since he last left it, only his iris is 
contracted. 

This question forces itself upbn the thoughtful 
observer at Chittenden in a peculiar manner. Seeing 
and hearing so many marvels in connection with this 

family and its history, the cut bono query will intrude in 

68 



ARE MEDIUMS NECESSAR Y? 69 

spite of oneself. Granted that all these foreseeings, 
portents, apparitions, levitations, obsessions, physical phe- 
nomena, and materializations have occurred, in what 
respect have they profited the seers and mediums ? What 
good have they reaped from them ? And if the answer 
is none, then why should they be made the victims of 
the visits of good angels or the pranks of evil spirits ? 
These are questions easily asked — any child might ask 
them — but who can answer? 

Except — and perhaps this is the true solution — that if 
there is such a thing as a Spirit World ; and that that 
world can get into relations with us ; and that it is the 
complement and fruit, the outcome and essence, the last 
distillation of all things and forms and potencies that we 
know of ; and it is essential for man's progress that he 
should be assured of immortality — then, in such case, 
people constituted like these Eddys are necessary to the 
general welfare, and must be content to suffer and even 
die in the interest of the race. It requires a rare eleva- 
tion of character to cheerfully endure martyrdom; and if 
William and Horatio and Mary and Delia and Webster, 
have grown sensitive, fretful, and morose in the course of 
all these leaden-footed, sorrow-burdened years, I, for one, 
cannot blame them. I am just selfish enough to ask 
Heaven to preserve me from the like experience ! 

Now if any of my valued friends among the men of 
science, here and abroad, should feel disposed to stop 
reading just at this point, because I seriously discuss these 
psychological phenomena as objective and not subjective, 
it will be a pity ; for if they went to this homestead on a 
vacation visit, and set to work without fear or favor to 



70 MAGNETISM AND MESMERISM. 

observe, classify, analyze, and describe what they heard, 
saw, and felt, they, too, might find themselves flinging 
their pre-conceived notions behind the grate, and calling 
things by their righfe names. 

The case-hardened skeptic, driven like me, from his 
first position of ascribing all these Eddy phenomena to 
trickery, and anxious to believe anything or everything 
rather than admit them to be spiritualistic, will ask me 
to try if they are not electrical, magnetic, mesmeric or 
odic in their character. Failing all these, he, who prob- 
ably never before allowed the idea of a personal devil to 
be mentioned without rebuke, may, as a Rutland editor 
did the other day in a conversation we held together, 
say, it is all the work of the Father of Lies himself. This 
is good sound Catholic doctrine, and an impregnable 
refuge. Does not Chrysostom say : Quod est in terra in 
terra maneat, si non a diabolo exfossicm ? Having this in 
view, did not Bishop Viviers, in a pastoral letter published 
in the Roman Catholic Guardian in 1868, remark : " Doubt- 
less there are relations between the intelligence of men 
and the supernatural world of spirits, * but 

they (/. e. the faithful) should not less certainly be con- 
vinced that these experiments are one of the thousand 
ruses of Satan to cause souls to perish ? " 

Now, as to the matter of electricity, that, as I have 
before observed, has long since been settled in the negative 
by Professor Hare, Mr. Varley, Mr. Crookes, and others ; 
while the Committee of the London Dialectical Society 
cover the whole ground by saying that : " No philosophi- 
cal explanation of them has yet been arrived at." As to 
animal magnetism, the Society's sub-committee No. 2 



UNIVERSAL BELIEF IN SPIRITS. 71 

report that they " have not discovered any conditions 
identical with those ordinarily deemed necessary to the 
production of the so-called electro-biological or mesmeric 
phenomena — but often the reverse." And as to their 
being the product of odic anterior causes, the great dis- 
coverer of Od himself ought to be good authority. 

Baron von Reichenbach attended a circle in London, 
the striking incidents of which he has described ; and 
he adds that he regards " the great influences of Od upon 
the human spirit as the mere physical side of the matter 
— the roots by which it adheres firmly to the ground; " 
and he is thankful to see the day when all his former 
discoveries show themselves as the portal through which 
it is possible for him " to go forward into the spiritual 
department." (Epes Sargent's " Planchette," p. 241.) 

Where will we land, then, but in the camp of the 
enemy — in the arms of the Spiritists ? Well, if, like Saul 
of Tarsus, we are to be knocked off our high horses of 
prejudice and unbelief, and blinded by the great new 
light that is to pour upon us from the "gates ajar," let us 
at least console ourselves that we are only getting back 
to where our ancestors and the ancestors of the whole 
race stood from the remotest ages. The Hindoo Vedas, 
Puranas, Bhagavat-Gita, and Ramayanas ; the Chinese 
Confucian writings ; the Koran ; the discourses of the 
Roman and Grecian sages ; the Egyptian records ; the 
Persian Zend-Avesta; the Jewish Kabbala; and, lastly, 
the Christian Bible, attest that a belief in the ministration 
of good and evil spirits prevailed among all peoples, in 
all times. These Eddys hear spirit-voices calling to 
them in the night-watches, and I myself have heard them 
3 



72 / ANCIENT MEDIUMS. 

in the circle-room singing, whispering, and delivering dis- 
courses upon their spirit-life. This is strange, no doubt, 
and hard to believe, but it is no new experience. 

Herodotus mentions an Egyptian monarch who returned 
to earth some time after his physical death and talked to 
his people ; the famous statue of Memnon at Thebes, 
which gave forth melodious sounds when first struck by 
the sun's morning rays, was so haunted by the invisibles, 
that spirit-voices and spirit-music were heard issuing 
from it for ages. Strabo, ^Elius Gallus, Demetrius, and 
others attest this fact. 

J. M. Peebles, tells in his scholarly book, of the man 
Agrippa, of the XVth Century, who was not more 
remarkable for his knowledge of languages and wide 
range of scholarship than for his spiritual gifts. When 
at the Court of John George, Elector of Saxony, with 
the great Erasmus, he was solicited to call up the 
spirit of Tully. Arranging his audience (as these 
Eddys arrange theirs), he caused Tully to appear upon 
the rostrum, where he repeated his oration for Roscius 
" with such astonishing animation, exaltation of spirit, ' 
and soul-stirring gestures, that all present, like the 
Romans of old, were ready to pronounce his client 
innocent of every charge brought against him." 

The mere quotation of Bible passages narrating the 
visits of talking and dumb spirits to men, would make 
a chapter by itself; so I will merely refer to a few that 
I find enumerated in a stray volume (Peebles' " Seers 
of the Ages " ) loaned me from a neighboring house, 
at the time these lines were written. They are : Gene- 
sis xix., i ; xviii., 1-2 ; xxxii., xvi., 7 ; Ex. iii.; 1 Kings, 



ANIMALS AS MEDIUMS. 75 

xix., 5 ; Num. xxii.,31 ; 1 Sam. xxviii., 14; Jobiv., 14-17; 
Dan. ix., 21; x., 9-10; x., 18; viii., 15-16; Acts vii., 
35; Ezekiel viii., 2; xi., 1. I have recently read over 
again with singular interest, the passage in 1 Samuel, 
above cited, as it so well describes the process of 
" materialization " of which I have seen so many- 
examples at the Eddys'. 

The experiences of these wonderful Eddys, duplicate 
those of ancient mediums to so minute a degree, 
that even their dumb animals have been made to 
speak after the fashion of Balaam's ass. They killed, 
a while ago, by accident, an old goose which used 
to get under the windows, some stormy night and 
say, in sepulchral tones, " God save my poor gos- 
lings ! " and " Oh, dear! what shall I do ?" and some- 
times cry out "Murder!" Horatio Eddy, in telling 
me this tough yarn, said that of course he did not 
believe that the bird's organs of speech were so 
changed that it could utter words like a Christian, 
but that " George Dix " or some other jovial spirit 
" materialized " a voice close to the creature's mouth. 
William Eddy and several other witnesses assure me 
that the story is no lie, they having heard the voice not 
once, but frequently. 

My friend, Richard A. Proctor, in one of his astro- 
nomical lectures, told us that so far from the expanse 
of heaven being the abode of peace and quiet, it was 
the scene of terrific commotion and violence — thus 
destroying many pretty conceits of the poets. In like 
manner our notions of the future life are rudely dis- 
turbed by the Eddy phenomena and others of like 



76 EXPLANA TIONS B Y PLEA SANT A UTHORS. 

character. It is no longer a Valley of Shadows and 

repose, but a busy scene of domestic occupation; 

while the singing and talking phantoms call upon 

Longfellow to re-write his " Song of the Silent Land," 

for it seems a land of speech and song, of music and 

poetry 

" O Land ! O Land ! 

For all the broken-hearted, 

The mildest herald by our fate allotted, 

Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand 

To lead us with a gentle hand 

Into the land of the great Departed ; 

Into the Silent Land." 

I have to laugh when I recall Proctor's owly wisdom 
(see his " Borderland of Science ") in explaining away 
all ghosts, by the discovery that the supposed shade of 
a certain dear one at his bedside, resolved itself into a 
student gown and rowing-belt. He is a jolly compan- 
ion and an honorable fellow, and if he could stop at 
Chittenden one week with me, I warrant he would not 
only take a more cheerful view of the other life, but 
write a new volume ; perhaps, with the title " Another 
World than Ours." And my most valued correspond- 
ent, Mr. Charles W. Upham, author of the noble work 
on Salem Witchcraft, who so complacently argues 
away all supernatural causes for the phenomena of 
1692 by crediting Tituba, Ann Proctor, and the other 
" Afflicted Children " with a thaumaturgic deftness 
that would entitle them to rank with the greatest of 
Chinese jugglers — how amazed would he not be to "sit 
beside me and see not only living materialized spirits, 
but even evanescent animals and flowers produced ! 



DISCOMFITURE OF A TRIO. 77 

This is a bad place for materialists in general, and if 
Tyndall should gome to this country again he had best 
avoid Chittenden. We had three of the kind there with- 
in a week— a lawyer, an artist, and an inventor. When 
they first came they were as spry with their arguments. as 
though fresh from the reading of Vogt, Moleschott, or 
Feuerbach ; denying, as Epes Sargent expresses it, with 
the asperity of partisanship, all evidences of a psychical 
nature in man, and seeming to take it as a personal 
affront if credited with immortal souls. 

But when these intelligent men sat evening after even- 
ing and saw an average of a dozen ghosts a night stand 
in their presence, and show delight at being recognized 
by their personal friends, and actually heard some of 
them speak in clear, natural voices, their discomfiture was 
comical to behold. Tied to the anchorage of years of 
skepticism, unable to drift away into the open sea that 
suddenly lay before them— an Atlantic of thought with 
unknown countries beyond it— their little shallops fell to 
rocking and pitching them about, until they seemed in 
direful plight. One, the toughest customer of the three, 
the inventor, saw several of his family connection and 
was converted from unbelief; the second, the lawyer, 
and a man of fine intellectual powers, departed, big with 
essays against all religions, and halting between two 
opinions ; the artist is still thinking. 

It would be amusing, if it were not pitiful, to see men 
able to put two grammatical sentences together, writing 
crude criticisms and propagating falsehoods about the 
Eddy manifestations, miles away from the place. They 
must concede some shrewdness and common-sense to 



78 HOSTILITY OF THE CHURCH. 

others, and conceive the possibility that it may be as hard 
to humbug me as themselves. 

I have already said that there are things about the 
mediums, their antecedents, and their phenomena, to 
arouse distrust. But let any fair man stay there a week 
or two, take time to hear both sides of every story, and 
watch what occurs, and, my word for it, he will carry away 
food for reflection to last him the rest of his natural life. 

It is difficult to understand the hostility of the Church, 
whose aggressive side is so well shown in the behavior 
of the Methodist neighbors of the Eddys, to Spiritism, 
for is it not its keenest and strongest weapon of offence 
against the materialists? Against a class of profound 
thinkers, who exclude Faith and demand sensuous proofs 
of the future existence of man, what argument can be 
adduced but the fact that our friends actually re-visit us 
after death and talk to us face to face ? Is not the spread 
of materialism the direct consequence of the exclusion of 
facts which, if true, this modern Spiritism has re-veri- 
fied, from religious creeds and scientific consideration ? 

In the early days of the Church the ministration of 
spirits was unhesitatingly believed by the Fathers, and 
the Catholic body holds to it to this day. Protestantism 
apparently made its fatal mistake when it scouted it, 
and it might have been better for Calvin and Luther if 
they had honestly confessed that their own personal 
experiences in this direction were something else than 
the work of the devil. If modern Spiritualism should 
prove true, their followers would be in the condition 
well-defined by Beattie : 

" So fares the system-building sage, 
Who, plodding on from youth to age, 



PHENOMENA OF APPARITIONS, 79 

Has proved all other reasoners fools, 
And bound all nature by his rules ; 
So fares he in that dreadful hour 
When injured Truth exerts her power 
Some new phenometton to raise, 
Which, bursting on his frightened gare, 
From its proud summit to the ground, 
Proves the whole edifice unsound." 

But let us leave polemics to the doctors and return 
to our story. 

Writers upon the subject that we are now discussing, 
offer various hypotheses to account for the production 
of visible spectral forms, by the beings of the other 
world. Some contend that they are created out of the 
subtle particles existing in the atmosphere, and have a 
positive, if evanescent, material existence ; while others 
deny their actuality and attribute their being seen 
to psychological control of our natural senses of 
sight, hearing, and touch; in like manner as the 
mesmerist obliges his patient to see, hear, taste, and 
feel whatsoever he may call up in his own mind. In 
my opinion, of course supposing that the tales are not 
bald fiction, the phenomena may be grouped into two 
classes — apparitions seen only by one or more sensi- 
tives or lucides, and those visible to all without regard 
to their lucidity; and they should be separately 
considered. 

The experiences of the Eddys are of both kinds. 
Sometimes a phantom has been seen only by the sick 
or dying; sometimes by those in health, as forerun- 
ners of disaster impending over themselves or others; 
and sometimes in the materialized condition, so that 
everybody in the house, believers as well as unbelievers, 



80 THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE. 

perceived them equally well. The occurrence illus- 
trated in the sketch of the phantom carriage was of 
this character. On a cold winter night, just before 
bed-time, the family were gathered in the sitting- 
room, when they heard the noise of a carriage coming 
rapidly along the road from the northward. The 
circumstance was so strange, the ground being covered 
with snow which would prevent the noise of wheels 
being heard, that all went to the front windows to 
look. A full moon, 

" * * * shining bright on the new-fallen snow, 
Gave a lustre of mid-day to objects below ;" 

— and they saw an old-fashioned, open carriage, drawn 

by a pair of white horses with plumes on their heads, 

turn rapidly into the yard and stop. 

Rushing to the back door and flinging it open, 
there stood the equipage before their astonished eyes. 
On the back seat was a lady, dressed in Scotch plaid 
and furs, with a feather in her bonnet. She looked 
kindly at them and bowed, but said nothing. On his 
high box sat the driver, a thistle cockade in his hat 
and a capacious coat with a standing collar muffling 
him to his chin. Every buckle and trapping of the 
harness was plainly revealed by the moonlight, and 
even the ornamental scroll-work on the coach-panels. 

The family, with characteristic rustic bashfulness, 
said nothing, waiting for the grand lady to manifest 
her pleasure. No one doubted for an instant the real- 
ity of what they saw, and even the skeptical and hard- 
hearted father moved to the door so as to be ready to 
do what might be required for the belated traveler. 



A PORTENT OF DEATH. 83 

But, as all eyes were fixed upon her, she and her equip- 
age began to fade. The garden fence and other objects, 
previously concealed behind the opaque bodies of the 
carriage and horses, began to show through, and in a 
moment the whole thing vanished into the air, leaving 
the spectators lost in amazement. Old Mr. Eddy at 
once exclaimed that his wife and her mother had been 
up to some of their devilish witchcraft again ; but they 
knew that it was a portent of somebody's death. The 
boys, then only ten or twelve years old, ran for the 
lantern and searched all over the road and yard for 
wheel-tracks, but their quest was fruitless. The phan- 
toms had disappeared, without leaving the slightest 
impression on the snow. Two months later the grand- 
mother died. 

Although I dislike to break the sequence of my nar- 
rative, I will state, that in a circle one night I held a 
conversation about this apparition with a spirit-voice, 
which informed me that the phantom lady was a Scotch 
ancestress of Mrs. Eddy, who came to warn them of 
old Mrs. MacComb's death. And since then, at another 
seance, Mrs. Eddy herself confirmed the fact. 

Portents have occurred before the death of each mem- 
ber of the family, but always entirely different in char- 
acter from the predecessors, and happening unexpect- 
edly. Mrs. Eddy, the mother of these children, 
deceased in 1873 after a lingering illness. During the 
whole time she lay in bed, manifestations of the pres- 
ence of the departed were frequent. When the surviv- 
ing children were wearied out with watching, Mrs. 
Eddy would send them to bed under the pretence that 



84 DEA TH OF MRS. EDD Y. 

she needed quiet, and they, watching secretly, would 
see their dead sister Miranda's spirit in materialized 
form, doing the necessary offices for the invalid. They 
would hear her talking with their motherland when it 
was necessary to turn her, the spirit, with the help of 
other spirits, would do it. 

One day, as they sat at dinner, soft strains of music 
came through the open door, and going outside, they 
heard sweet airs played at the corner of the house, by 
an invisible harp and flute, the sound gradually reced- 
ing and dying away on the air. A week before she 
breathed her last, her own dead mother, to warn whom 
the phantom lady came in her unsubstantial coach, 
appeared in materialized form to them all, bearing a 
basket of white roses in her hand. She told them that 
Mrs. Eddy would soon come " over the river " to her, 
and she was waiting to welcome her on the farther 
shore. The old lady wore the same dress as in life — 
a brown woolen frock, a round calico cape, a check 
apron, and a cap on her head ; her scissors hung as 
usual at her side, and no detail was lacking to make 
her identification complete. She left a message for 
Horatio, to the effect that many years before, when 
about starting on a journey, she had hidden a string 
of gold beads in a snuff-box in the cellar wall ; and 
directed him to find it and give the necklace to his 
youngest sister to wear for her sake. Search was made, 
off and on, for several months, and finally the box and 
contents were discovered by Horatio behind a stone in 
the north side of the cellar wall. The artist has 
sketched them, and they accompany this chapter. 



C/?.4/voM0T//£tfs /l/i'r/qs/^ *%?CA. 



*m 



f 1 



#%Am\mx -?: 



! 



%\ f 

! 



m ■ 



m 



m iii 



[fll Jl-tjij! 




Zf.-e/v^/y/^/.^/rs J/ys/w <3,;>r. 



HIDDEN TREASURES. 



I 



THE SPIRIT'S PORTRAIT. 87 

Horatio, just before his mother's decease, was absent 
from home, and at her request was sent for. Delia 
went to the table and wrote the letter of recall ; and, 
leaving it open while searching for an envelope in 
another room, she found upon her return that a post- 
script had been added by the spirit of Miranda, and signed 
with her familiar autograph. The good lady finally- 
closed her eyes upon the scene of so much misery and 
suffering ; but she did not go far away, for before the 
funeral she " materialized " in Delia's presence, and 
directed her to remove the crape they had hung on the 
door, there being, she said, occasion for rejoicing rather 
than for mourning. 

How she looked on this occasion I can perfectly 
understand, for I have seen her " materialized " on 
several occasions, and heard her speak, as I will more 
fully describe in a future chapter. 

Mr. Owen relates, at pages 328 and 329 of his 
"Debatable Land," three cases of ghostly wagons and 
carriages being heard in England and the United 
States, but they were not precursors of death. Neither 
was the frightful apparition, related by Mrs. Crowe, in 
her " Night Side of Nature," page 413, of the horse and 
cart at Haverhill, Mass., with its fierce-looking driver 
and the fearful gray-haired woman lashed to the cart, 
writhing and struggling to get free. 

Nor the "Wild Troop of Rodenstein," a spectral rob- 
ber band, that at certain times swept along the road 
between the castles of Rodenstein and Schnellert ; invisi- 
ble, but making the ground shake and the air resound 
with the noise of their phantom horses and carriages, 



88 SPECTRAL BEASTS. 

and barking dogs and cracking whips. Nor the herds of 
ghostly beasts, driven by a spectral herdsman accompa- 
nied by his long-haired, black dog, that cross the coun- 
try in another part of Germany. 

These instances serve to show that something, call it 
spirits or what we will, has the power to call into a 
temporary but altogether deceptive existence, the forms 
of animals, carriages and men ; and my object in refer- 
ring to them is to divest the phantom-carriage incident, 
in the Eddy family history, of much of the air of improb- 
ability that it would have if suffered to stand alone 
without the citation of similar phenomena happening 
elsewhere. 

The discovery of the law by which these things can 
be made to occur, is among the most interesting of the 
results that promise to reward the labors of the scien- 
tific investigator. When it is demonstrated how motion 
can be conveyed to the phantasmal imitations of inani- 
mate objects, like a wagon, and life be temporarily 
imparted to the ghostly shapes of animals, it will evi- 
dently be necessary for us to reconstruct our present 
beliefs as to the nature of force, and the limits of its 
manifestation. 




CHAPTER VI. 

MORE PROPHETIC WARNING. 

Y narrative, being in fact a narrative, not a mere 
report of researches in the phenomena of Spirit- 
ualism, will embrace things personally experi- 
enced, and things reported to me by credible witnesses. 
Thus three of my chapters have told the story of the 
outer life of the Eddys, and, including this one, two have 
been devoted to their inner life, which in their case is 
the more pleasant and important of the two. " In their 
case " did I say ?— why not in every case? This inner 
life, with its hidden mysteries, its undiscovered laws, its 
unmeasured possibilities! Why, look at the mere 
matter of the memory. When I was last in England, 
Professor F. Crace Calvert, F. R. S., the well-known 
carbolic-acid exploiter, told me a curious bit of personal 
history that occurs to me just at this juncture. He was 
born in England, but when he had reached the age of 
eleven, his father took up his residence in France, and ' 
for twelve years the boy never spoke or heard spoken a 
work of English. Then he married an English girl 
and returned home. At this time, when he was at 

89 



90 LIVING THREE LIVES. 

work with grammar and dictionary re-learning his mother- 
tongue, of which he had wholly lost the use, he talked 
nothing but English in his sleep ; and his wife says he 
talked a good deal of it. 

Coleridge mentions a somewhat similar case in his 
" Biographia Literaria," that of an ignorant girl, who 
" during a fever talked incessantly in Latin, Greek, and 
Hebrew; and who, it was afterwards discovered, had 
lived with a learned man who was a great Hebraist." 
Coleridge says of the wonderful power of memory, as 
suggested by this case, that " this, perchance, is the dread 
book of judgment, in the mysterious hieroglyphics of which 
every idle word is recorded." 

The Eddys, we may say, live three distinct lives : — 
one external; and one conscious and one unconscious 
internal life The first is the common lot of us all; in 
the second they see spiritual things while otherwise in 
their normal condition, and remember what they see; the 
third is the state of deep trance, into which William 
invariably enters when sitting for the " materializations ; " 
and into which Horatio and the others fall when obsessed 
by other spirits who communicate orally to their personal 
friends, or when levitated, or when sitting for powerful 
physical manifestations in the light or dark. 

Upon recovering from this latter condition, the medium 
seems to remember nothing that has befallen him, except 
upon those rare occasions when William, like the ancient 
Epimenides and Corfidius, has left his body dead and 
wandered in the supernal spheres, bringing back accounts 
of what he had seen and heard among the immortals. 



MYSTERIOUS SHADOW OF MR. EDDY. 91 

I am well aware that the materialization of spirits, is 
what the public is most anxious to hear about, but I 
cannot take up that phase of the subject, before at least 
fkimming the surface of this family history for the other 
marvellous experiences to which its members have been 
subjected. It would be like Columbus returning from his 
gold hunt in the new country with no account of its 
geography, fauna, flora, or human inhabitants. The 
stories I am recording were not gathered at appointed 
sittings, at which the narrator might have been tempted 
to stretch fancy to help make literary sensations ; but in 
general social conversation, over our pipes around the 
evening fire, as the discussion of varied topics drew them 
out. And in every case they have been attested by 
more than one witness. For the present we will occupy 
ourselves with more familiar phases of the mediumship. 
There will be abundant opportunity for me to present the 
materialization question in its most novel and interesting 
aspects. 

We were upon the subject of portents fore-running 
death, and in my last chapter I described some that befell, 
before Mrs. Eddy, the mother, left this world for the 
other. About a year before the father died, he retired 
one night, in his usual health to his sleeping-room in the 
L part, leaving the family in the sitting-room. In a few 
moments they were startled by seeing him, or what 
seemed himself, standing in the door leading into the 
front hall, with his outer clothing removed. The follow- 
ing diagram will show that it was impossible for him to 
have reached the place without passing directly through 



9 2 



A SPIRIT VISITOR. 



the room they were in, and so account for their alarm : 

A is the sitting-room ; B Mr. Eddy's sleeping-room ; 
C his bed ; D the door where he was seen ; E fire-place. 




From the room A he could be seen by the family lying in 
his bea^ an d yet, there, he or his second self stood at the 
hall-door ! Mrs. Eddy called to him and he answered 
from his bed, scolding them for disturbing him. The 
silent figure was then nothing less than his " double " or 
wraith. 

The son James died of diphtheria in 1862 in the north 
room (marked F on the diagram). A week before the 
event he asked his mother who the lady was who came 
every day on the white horse to visit him. She thought 
his mind wandered, and set to pacifying him, saying that 
there was no lady nor any white horse, and he must not 
disturb his mind with such fancies. He insisted that 
there was a lady, and that she rode up every day at a 
certain hour, tied her horse to the hitching-post and came 
and sat in his room, waiting, as she said, for him to come 
with her. The mother then said it must be a spirit, but 



RECORD OF OTHER PHANTOMS. 93 

he declared that it was no spirit, but a living person. At 
this very time Dr. Ross, of Rutland, the attendant phy- 
sician, prophesied his recovery, but the mother recognized 
the phantom rider as a warning, and her fears were 
justified a few days later. The night he died he appeared 
to his brother William, then a lad working in the dairy 
on Warren Leland's farm in Westchester County, N. Y., 
and who started for home before the next dawn. He 
reached the door of his home weeping bitterly, and 
anticipated the evil tidings by saying he knew all about 
it and had come home to the funeral. 

How vividly this incident recalls the case of the two 
illustrious friends, Michael Mercatus and Marcellinus 
Ficinus, as related by Baronius : 

After a long discourse upon the immortality of the soul, they 
mutually pledged their word that whoever should die first would 
appear to the survivor. Shortly after, Mercatus being one morning 
deeply engaged in study, heard the noise of a horse galloping in the 
street, which presently stopped at his door, and the voice of Ficinus 
called to him, "Oh, Michael ! oh, Michael ! vera sunt ilia — those 
things are true ! " Rushing to the window and flinging open the 
casement, he plainly saw his friend on a white steed. He called 
after him, but without another word he galloped out of sight. 
Thereupon he sent immediately to Florence to inquire concerning 
his friend's health, and learned that he died about that hour he 
called to him. 

Mrs. Crowe tells of an Edinburgh citizen who, 
riding gently up Corstcrphine hill one day, observed 
an intimate friend of his own, on horseback also, 
immediately behind him. He slackened his pace to 
give him time to come up, but presently was amazed 
to find no one in sight, although there was no side 
road by which his friend could have departed. Per- 
plexed in mind at the strange circumstance, he returned 



94 STOR Y OF MIRANDA EDD VS DEA TH. 

home to find that during his absence his friend had 
been killed by his horse falling in Candlemaker's 
Row. 

Again, a Yorkshire farmer's wife, away from home, 
was suddenly seen to ride into the farm yard on horse- 
back and then disappear, and she was afterward found 
to have died at that precise time. 

One day, before Miranda Eddy's death, the family 
were sitting at dinner, when suddenly a heavy bell 
tolled one, in the air, right over their heads, and the 
reverberations of the peal died away while they listened 
for the stroke to be repeated. Miranda saw James and 
Francis in the spirit and gave orders for her own tomb- 
stone. She ordered the inscription — "Not dead but 
risen. Why seek ye the living among the dead ? " — 
to be placed upon it. The survivors declare that she 
was the greatest medium in the whole family. An old 
woman of the neighborhood, who has the same passion 
for laying out corpses that a famous New York thief, 
nicknamed " The Chief Mourner/' had for attending 
funerals, was counting upon the pleasant job Miranda 
was soon to furnish her, but the dying girl said the 
miserable creature should never close her eyes. She 
made her mother promise that no one but she should 
touch her body, and then calmly awaited the end. As 
the ebb of life interfered with her breathing, Mrs. 
Stephen Baird, a friendly neighbor, supported her in 
her arms. The last minute arrived, the wrist was 
pulseless, and the last gasp was being taken, when the 
dead right arm raised itself, and the dead hand dosed the 
glazed eyes. Here is Mrs. Baird's own certificate: 



DEA Til OF FRANCIS LIGIITFOOT EDD Y. 95 

Chittenden, October 5th, 1874.— I certify that I was present on the 
occasion of Miranda Eddy's death ; that I held her up at the last 
moment ; and that, just at her last gasp, her arm rose and her 
right hand closed her eyes." Mary Baird. 

Miranda wrote her own obituary verses, which, at 

the family's request, I quote : 

" There's a silence in parlor and chamber, 

There's a sadness in every room ; 
Tho' we know 't was the Father who claimed her, v 

Yet everything 's burdened with gloom. 
But we will not be comfortless mourners, 
For we know where the angels have borne her, 
And soon we shall see her again." 

Francis Lightfoot Eddy was Orderly Sergeant of 
Company G, 5th Vermont Volunteers, in the late war. 
He contracted a heavy cold in the army that soon ran 
into quick consumption, and the poor fellow came 
home to die. He lay sick three months, but three days 
before the end approached, he wrote in the family 
Bible, the exact day and hour of his death. A fort- 
night previous to this, the family heard a wagon drive 
up to the front door, one evening, the latch lifted and 
the button turned, and they saw two soldiers bring in 
a coffin and place it in the entry, and then retire and 
drive off without saying a word. On the coffin was 
a plate with a name upon it, which not being able 
to read in the obscurity, they went for a candle ; but 
upon its being brought, the coffin had vanished like 
its mysterious bearers. When Francis died they sent 
to Rutland by a neighbor for his coffin, and when that 
was brought, it was the counterpart of its spectral 
double, to the very plate and nails. 

Francis also dictated the style of his tombstone and 
wished it to bear the inscription, " passed into the 



CjG A CHILD 'S DEA TH A VER TED. 

world of spirits," instead of the usual formula, " died." 
He also wanted a flag carved on the stone, surmounted by 
the legend; " Freedom at last." But old Mr. Eddy was 
bound to have his own way in this as in everything else, 
and set up a stone to suit himself. This enraged the 
boy's spirit so much that he came back in materialized 
and unmaterialized form, and annoyed them until they 
replaced the obnoxious marble with one according with 
his dying request. 

In the spring of 1863 the child of Sophia Eddy, wife ot 
Sylvester Chase, of Bennington, Vt., lay sick at the old 
Eddy homestead, of lung fever. Her death was expected 
by all, and Delia ironed a white dress and skirt for the 
little girl and laid them away in the mother's trunk. One 
evening Horatio went out to the penstock for water, and, 
looking up, he saw his own room in the second story 
lighted up and two strange old women walking about, 
shaking the invalid's dresses and busying themselves in' 
other preparations, apparently for the coming death. He 
ran up-stairs, and, opening his door, found a table set in 
the middle of the floor, covered with a sheet taken from 
the bed and on it the child' s clothes, which had been 
removed from the trunk in another room. The smoking 
wicks of two candles showed the source of the light he 
had observed. Knowing by experience what this sort of 
thing meant, he came down and told the watchers that 
the child would die, The mother at once fell into a 
violent convulsion, which ended in a dead faint. Mean- 
while Horatio had gone to the door and stood watching 
the re-lighting of the candles and the moving about of the 
ghostly women, when, just as Mrs. Chase had fainted, the 



CORROBORATIVE TESTIMONY. 97 

light was extinguished, there was a rush of invisible feet 

down the stairs and into the chamber, and the child soon 

began to mend in the arms of William, who tended the 

little one with affectionate care. They were afterwards 

told that it was fully expected that she would die, and 

spirit friends had gathered there to receive her, but the 

mother's alarming condition induced them to unite their 

efforts to keep alive the flickering spark of life. 

Now, please bear in mind that all these portents have 

had their prototypes in various countries at various times. 

The books are full of them, and unless we choose to reject 

corroborative testimony of a character and to a degree 

that would substantiate any other facts in any court of 

justice, we have no right to whistle these psychological 

phenomena down the wind. If they have occurred more 

frequently than might be wished in the presence of 

illiterate and plain people who were incapacitated to 

observe and study them to the best advantage, it is only 

the louder call upon men of science to take up the inquiry 

and set our minds at rest. Says Mr. Crookes in the 

Quarterly Journal of Science for July, 1871 : 

" It argues ill for the boasted freedom of opinion among scientific 
men, that they have so long refused to institute a scientific investiga- 
tion into the existence and nature of facts asserted by so many com- 
petent and credible witnesses, and which they are freely invited to 
examine when and where they please. For my own part I too much 
value the pursuit of truth, and the discovery of any new fact in 
nature, to avoid inquiry because it appears to clash with prevailing 
opinions." 

These are noble words, and worthy of consideration 

by every scientist who would not be considered an 

obstructionist in this time of progress. He adds in the 

same article: 



98 APA THY OF SCIENTIFIC MEN. 

" I confess I am surprised and pained at the timidity or apathy 
shown by scientific men in reference to this subject. Some little 
time ago, when an opportunity for examination was first presented 
to me, I invited the co-operation of some scientific friends in a sys- 
tematic investigation ; but I soon found that to obtain a scientific 
committee for the investigation of this class of facts was out of the 
question, and that I must be content to rely on my own endeavors, 
aided by the co-operation from time to time of a few scientific and 
learned friends who were willing to join in the inquiry." 

When Mr. Crookes announced in 1870 his intention 
to take up this new branch of scientific inquiry, his 
determination was applauded by the most influential 
journals in Europe. " Now," they said, " we shall have 
the facts, for now a truly great student of nature is set 
about finding it all out." But when he found it out 
and announced, like the honest and brave man he is, 
that his researches warranted the belief that spiritual 
intercourse was a demonstrable truth, he was abused 
and vilified to such a degree as to make it apparent 
that what he was expected to discover was something that 
would not run counter to popular prejudice. 

I have said that the Eddy portents have their proto- 
types. The frequency of this class of phenomena, led 
the German psychologists to adopt the doctrine of guar- 
dian spirits — " a doctrine," says Mrs. Crowe, " which 
has prevailed more or less in all ages, and has been con- 
sidered by many theologians to be supported by the 
Bible." 

The literal accuracy of the sketch of " The Phantom 
Carriage " has been endorsed on three separate occa- 
sions since its appearance in the Daily Graphic, by what 
claimed to be spirits, who addressed me in audible 
voice — one of the three Mrs. Eddy herself— and all 



GUARDIAN ANGELS. 99 

three assert that the apparition was sent by a guardian 
spirit. I know the full value of words, and I mean to 
say unequivocally that a woman — a breathing, walk- 
ing, palpable woman, as palpable as any other woman 
in the room, recognized not only by her sons and 
daughters, but also by neighbors present, as Mrs. Zeph- 
aniah Eddy, deceased December 29th, 1872 — on the even- 
ing of October 2d, 1874, walked out of a cabinet where 
there was only one mortal, and where, under ascer- 
tained circumstances, only this one man could have 
been at the time, and spoke to me personally in audible 
voice. And nineteen other persons saw her at the 
same time, and heard her discourse. 

The records teem with instances of warnings being 
conveyed by supernatural agency, to persons in temporary 
danger, as well as to those about to die. Among the most 
interesting is that of the white-robed child Immanuel, 
who attended Frau Jung Stilling from 1799 to her death. 
He would forewarn her of dangers, attended her when 
travelling, and hovered near at all times and seasons. He 
addressed her in a language of his own, which, though 
unintelligible to others, she somehow understood. When 
she asked the spirit to show himself to her husband he 
refused, alleging that to do so would make him ill and 
cause his death. " Few persons," he explained, " are able 
to see such things." 

After the death of Dante, it was discovered that the 
thirteenth canto of the " Paradiso " was missing, and all 
search for it proved unavailing. But after some months 
the dead poet appeared to his son Pietro Alighieri, and 
told him that if he removed a certain panel near the 



IOO THE GHOST OF DANTE. 

\ 
window of the room in which the poem was written, the 

missing canto would be found. And it was found, much 

mildewed, but legible. 

The story I told of Horatio Eddy's finding his grand- 
mother's snuff-box and gold necklace, has its counterpart 
in the case of Madame von Militz (related by Mrs. Crowe), 
who, being about to sell her ancestral home, was instructed 
by a voice to go to the cellar and open a certain part of 
the wall. She did so, and found a goblet in which was a 
small gold ring, on which was engraven the name Anna 
von Militz. 

A Scotch gentleman, Avho was passing the night in the 
Manse of Strachur, Argyleshire, was visited during the 
night by an apparition, which said : " I come to tell you 
that this day twelvemonth you will be with your father." 
By a most curious concatenation of circumstances, he lost 
his life at the very time indicated, in a storm. 

I have mentioned the appearance of James Eddy to his 
brother William at the moment of his death, and if I had 
space, could cite twenty similar cases from familiar 
authors. One will suffice for the present. Lord Bal- 
carres was confined in the castle of Edinburgh on a 
charge of Jacobitism, and one night, saw his friend Vis- 
count Dundee open the curtains of his bed and look in 
upon him ; and then walk to the mantel-piece, lean upon 
it a moment, and go out of the room. At the same hour, 
as it subsequently appeared, the Viscount had died. 

When it is known that William Eddy never had a 
month's schooling in his life, and that he is almost illiter- 
ate, it will readily be imagined that he never even heard 
of Lord Balcarres. 



THE SPINNING GHOST. 



IOI 



The curious weapon of which 
the artist has furnished a sketch 
was dug out of the ground, 
from a depth of four feet below 
the surface, by Horatio Eddy, 
near Batavia, N. Y., where he 
happened to be exhibiting, 
some years ago. His informa- 
tion as to its locality, was 
obtained, he says, from a spirit. 
The shape of the weapon, and 
the quaint ornamentation of 
the bronze handle, will interest 
the antiquary. 

The sketch of the Spinning 
Ghost tells the story of a curi- 
ous family experience, attested 
to me by every member of the 
Eddy connection that I have 
seen. After old Mrs. Macomb's 
death, she was for years in the 
habit of returning to the north 
room on the second floor and 
turning her spinning-wheel. 
Four of the boys slept there, 
and the wheel stood in the 
south-east corner, behind the 
door. The children were great- 
ly frightened at first to hear 
the buzz and see no one, but 
they soon grew familiar with 
4* 



-fei 



t'' 



k 



102 SUBSTANTIAL APPEARANCE OF GHOSTS. 

the thing, and finally, to be sure that grandmother would 
awaken them, they hung a little bell on the wheel. 
The phenomenon, which had frightened them at first so 
that they hid their little faces beneath the bed-covering, 
had become a nightly diversion. After awhile the spirit 
materialized herself, feebly at first but stronger by 
degrees, until she would come looking exactly as when 
alive. The sketch represents the scene with absolute 
accuracy, and it is worth while to call attention to the 
fact that, except for the title, no one would suspect that 
the woman was not of this world. It was intended that 
it should be just so, for I can assure the reader, that, so 
far from the materialized spirits who appear in the Eddy 
"circle-room" seeming ghostlike, they are as substantial 
in every respect as any of us who gaze at the weird 
phalanx of the dead-alive. 



L 



\ 



CHAPTER VII. 

A CHAPTER OF FEET AND INCHES. 

I ASSUME it to be a fundamental principle that, in 
making scientific researches, results must be self- 
sufficient ; requiring neither excuse nor charity of 
construction, but carrying conviction in themselves. To 
deserve admission into the field of science, they must, 
be arrived at under circumstances that absolutely exclude 
the chance of error. They must, moreover, be capable 
of re-production at any time, under exactly the same 
circumstances, by any capable scientist, in any part 
of the world. I admit, also, that in view of the 
multitudinous liabilities to self-deception by trusting 
to the senses, their evidence should be largely excluded. 
To think I see a body rise in opposition to the law of 
gravity, as now understood, is to the student of science 
no evidence that I did see the phenomenon. He says 
that it is more reasonable to believe my eyesight at fault, 
or that, if I did see the body rise, trickery was involved, 
than that the universal law of gravity was disturbed in 
this particular instance. But if the lifting of the weight 
can be indicated on an instrument, which having neither 

i°5 



106 THE A UTHOR 'S POSITION. 

eyes nor psychological idiosyncrasies, cannot be deceived, 
then a new fact is gained for science, and our whole 
domain of knowledge has to be re-measured. 

Applying these rules to my own case, in what attitude 
do I stand towards the scientific world? The answer 
is readily given. The collector of a few facts and observer 
of certain phenomena, which others must classify and 
analyze : the gatherer of a few of the pebbles on the 
strand ; gazing over the whole ocean that lies there, 
inviting the keel of the bold and skillful navigator ; but 
which I cannot explore. As William Morton the com- 
mon sailor, pushing ahead of his companions, looked out 
upon the Open Polar Sea that had been the dream of 
geographical science for ages, and, humble as he was, 
pointed the way for all future Arctic explorers, so, I 
trust, that in reporting what is to be seen at the Vermont 
House of Wonders, this outpost upon the borders of the 
world known, and gateway of the world unknown, I may 
at least lighten the labors of those more learned and 
scientific than I, who are to come this way with the clew 
of the labyrinth in their hands. 

If I am so fortunate as to observe any one thing so 
carefully that it commands the thoughtful attention of 
one trained investigator, and so ultimately leads to the 
discovery of an occult force, I should be most thankful ; 
while if I should discover, or assist others to prove the 
Eddy marvels to be nothing but chicane, the public will 
be the gainer and I shall deserve well of it. 

I am led to make these remarks, by various criticisms 
and suggestions received by me from sources worthy of 
respect. It is proper that I should define my position 



INFALLIBLE INVESTIGATORS. 107 

beyond mistake, and declare that, if I misrepresent what 
I see, hear, and feel, it will be through lack of trained pow- 
ers of observation, and the consequent deception of my 
senses, and no other cause. Of course there is danger of 
this very thing, for I am not capable of doing the work 
of the man of science, any more than that of the dentist 
or cabinet-maker. But perhaps I am as competent as 
the average of laymen, and so we will let it pass at that. 
There were one or two pseudo-investigators at the 
Eddys' during my visit, skipping in for a day or so, and 
skipping off again, ready to avow that all of William's 
" materialized spirits " were William in disguise, and all 
of Horatio's surprising manifestations, the easy tricks of a 
travelling conjuror. If one tells them of babies being 
carried in from the cabinet by women ; of young girls 
with lithe forms, yellow hair, and short stature ; of old 
women and men standing in full sight and speaking to 
us ; of half-grown children seen, two at a time, simulta- 
neously with another form ; of costumes of different 
makes ; of bald heads, gray hair, black, shocky heads of 
hair, curly hair ; of ghosts instantly recognized by friends 
and ghosts speaking audibly in a foreign language of 
which the medium is ignorant — their equanimity is not 
disturbed for an instant. One sound and sufficient rule 
is applied : exclude everything troublesome, and explain 
away the rest as fraud. Let the world wag as it will, 
they are omniscient and infallible ; and, with Sir Oracle, 
say : 

"When I ope my mouth, let no dog bark." 

The credulity of some scientific men, too, is bound- 
less — they would rather believe that a baby could lift a 



108 SCIENTIFIC SKEPTICISM. 

mountain without levers, than that a spirit could lift an 
ounce. Alfred Wallace, of London, told a friend of 
mine that if a new fact were presented to Tyndall he 
would smell it, look at it, taste it, turn it over, handle 
it, bite it, — and then wouldn't believe. This is an 
extreme illustration of scientific skepticism, but after 
all it fairly illustrates the habit which, properly mod- 
erated, protects the world from false teaching. At the 
same time it must be admitted, that this spirit clogs the 
wheels of Progress, and obliges discoverers to win their 
just renown at the price of suffering and persecution. 
The other day a visitor at the Eddys' offered to bet me 
$1,000 to $>ioo that he could personate every one of the 
ghosts he saw that night, with a few dollars' worth of 
stage properties, and do every " trick " of Horatio's 
light circle after a day's preparation. All I could say 
was, that in such case he need not hunt for gold mines, 
for he had one in his head and fingers. 

The phenomena publicly exhibited at the Eddy home- 
stead are of the following character : i. The so-called 
materialization of spirit-forms, which occur in a " cir- 
cle-room " in the second story of the L part of the 
house. 2. The showing of materialized hands ; the 
"ring test ;" writing of names of deceased persons upon 
cards, by detached hands ; and playing on instruments 
in the light ; which usually happen in a circle held at 
the conclusion of the materialization circle. 3. The 
playing of musical instruments; voices; the sound of 
heavy dancing ; the moving of ponderous bodies ; the 
floating of musical instruments through the air ; the 
noise of struggles and sword combats between two 



MA TERIALIZA TION OF SPIRIT-FORMS. 1 1 1 

combatants ; the flashing of phosphorescent lights ; 
the touching and patting of our persons by supposed 
spirit-hands ; a concert of musical instruments, numer- 
ous enough to require the aid of at least four perform- 
ers ; solo-playing on the harmonicon, accordeon, violin, 
flute, guitar, or concertina ; the improvisation of rhymes 
by a voice, upon a subject named by any person present ; 
whistling; the imitation of a storm at sea, with the 
whistling and roaring of the gale, the force of waves, 
the sucking pumps, &c, &c. — these in a totally darkened 
room. All these forms of manifestation I have seen, 
heard, or felt, and each many times. 

My first problem was whether the manifestations 
were produced with the help of confederates, and I will 
state the physical conditions surrounding the perform- 
ers. The room is, as I observed, in a new extension, 
or L. Its windows are 13 feet 9 inches from the 
ground. No ladder is owned on the premises. For 
the use of carpenters engaged in making some small 
repairs, one was borrowed in the neighborhood. There 
is but one door of entrance, and this at the end of the 
room next to the main part of the house. The room 
is 37 feet 6 inches long and 17 feet wide, with a ceiling 
9 feet 2 inches high in the centre, and 6 feet 1 1 inches 
at the sides. At the farther or west end is the kitchen 
chimney, 2 feet 7 inches by 3 feet 4 inches, in the centre 
of the gable. To the right of the chimney is a closet 
of the same depth — 2 feet 7 inches — and a length of 
7 feet, with a window in it, 2 feet 6 inches from the 
floor, and having a 2 feet 2 inch by 2 feet 3 inch open- 
ing. The door to the closet or " cabinet " (for this is 



112 SEALING THE WINDOW. 

where the medium, William H. Eddy, sits) is 5 feet 
9 7-8 inches high by 2 feet wide. The ceiling of the 
cabinet at the chimney end is 7 feet 2 inches, and 5 feet 
at the other end, where the roof slopes. Three sides 
of the closet are lath and plaster ; the fourth the solid 
brick wall of the chimney. There are no panels to 
slide, no loose boards in the floor to lift. Every inch 
is tight and solid. Outside the cabinet a platform as 
long as the width of the room, and 6 feet 7 inches wide 
in its widest part, is elevated 23 1-4 inches above the 
general floor level. Along its outer edge runs a balus- 
trade or handrail, 2 feet 6 inches high, making the height 
from the floor of the room to the top of the rail, 4 feet 
5 1-4 inches. The outside measurements of the L, cor- 
respond with those of the circle-room. 

For six months after the hall was built, there was no 
window in the cabinet, but one evening during the 
excessively hot weather of last July, the medium 
fainted upon coming out of the stifling place, and the 
window was cut through. 

This window, in consequence of insinuations of its 
possible use for the introduction of costumes and con- 
federates, I obtained permission to effectually seal up, 
which I did by tacking a fine mosquito netting over 
the frame outside, and sealing it with wax stamped with 
my signet. 

This precaution made no difference in what occurred 
inside. I examined the netting every day until I left 
the place, about three weeks afterward, and found it 
just as I left it, with the exception that one night a vio- 
lent gale and rain-storm made a slight rent, which I 




INSIDE OF CABINET. 



THE CIRCLE-ROOM. 115 

immediately repaired. Before this covering was put 
on, the window was watched from the outside, during 
a seance, and no confederacy was discovered. 

The audience occupy the two benches and the chairs 
shown on the diagram. The circles being held by 
night, such feeble illumination as there is, comes from 
a kerosene lamp placed at the south side of the room, 
at the point indicated in the ground plan. My own 
post of observation is also shown. 

It will be remembered that beneath the circle-room 
are the dining-room, a small kitchen, and smaller 
buttery, all of which were illustrated in Chapter II. 
The ceilings of the rooms beneath, are the old lathed 
and plastered ceilings that have been there for many 
years. The new story was only added last spring, 
before which time the circles were held in a large sit- 
ting or reception room in the main house. The new 
circle-room floor is supported on beams of 6 by 4 inch 
stuff running across the L, and comprises two layers 
of boards; one rough, laid with open joints, and the 
upper one of planed, but not tongued and grooved, 
lumber. This is the common fashion in this section of 
the country, as I ascertained by examining a new 
house in course of completion a short distance from 
the Eddy homestead, There is no floor below the plat- 
form floor, but the outer edge of the platform rests upon 
a stout timber, and its floor, laid like the rest in two 
layers, is nailed to transverse ribs framed into the cross- 
timber and the outside plate. By going with a candle 
into the two little dark pantries opening out from the 
kitchen and buttery respectively, the whole carpentery 



1 1 6 THORO UGH EXAM IN A TIONS. 

of the platform and cabinet can be easily seen. One 
of the cuts gives a sectional view of the same. 

I have made two careful examinations of this matter 
— once with the artist, and once with a Massachusetts 
inventor, who was good enough to give me the follow- 
ing certificate : 

Chittenden, Vt., September 26th, 1874. — The undersigned, an 
inventor of many years' experience, a mechanician, and the grantee 
of twenty-three patents by the United States Government, hereby 
certifies that, at the request of and in company with Mr. H. S. 
Olcott, he has thoroughly examined the walls, window, ceiling and 
floor of William H. Eddy's " cabinet," and the floor of the platform 
upon which it opens, and that there is no possible means by which 
confederates could be introduced into the said cabinet, except 
through the open door, in full face of the audience ; nor any place 
where costumes or apparatus could be stowed. Furthermore, that 
after witnessing numerous materializations by alleged spirits, he is 
perfectly satisfied that the phenomena, whatever maybe their origin, 
are not produced by jugglery, the personation of characters by Wm. 
H. Eddy, or chemical or mechanical device. As to their being 
spiritual appearances, he has not become perfectly satisfied, for his 
previously entertained opinions as to a future state, have not been 
of a nature to allow him to concede the possibility of visits by the 
inhabitants of another world to this. 

O. F. Morrill, Chelsea, Mass. 

A glance at the ground plan of the circle-room will 
show that, not only can no one get to the medium, after 
he goes into the cabinet, by entering the door of the cir- 
cle-room, without detection, but no one can leave the 
circle to assist. The light, although very dim, is still 
quite sufficient to make the movements of every person 
in the room visible. 

Stress has been laid upon the fact that members of 
the Eddy family, sit with the spectators and usually in 
the front row. But, in the first place, there are times 
when neither of the family, except William, is in the 



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VIEW AND PLAN OF CABINET. 



THE BA TTLE-GKO UND. 1 1 9 

room ; secondly, they as often sit behind the last bench 
as on the front one ; and in the third place, it makes no 
difference where they sit, for no one could move a foot 
away from his place without being seen by every one 
else in the room. 

Over the circle-room there is nothing but an unfloored 
cock-loft, in which a man cannot stand upright. 
Between the braces, the lathing and plaster of the ceil- 
ing of the room below are exposed to view, and there 
is no sign of trap or opening. Moreover, when I 
examined the place, the old cobwebs stretched from 
rafter to rafter, showed that no one had preceded me 
that way, for a long time at least. 

I now claim that I have demonstrated the inaccessi- 
bility of the cabinet to evil-disposed persons, and so 
eliminated one most important source of deception. 
The question is therefore narrowed down to the fol- 
lowing point : Granted that certain forms, apparently 
differing in sizes, colors, costumes, sex, and age, pre- 
sent themselves on the platform, they must be either, (1) 
deceptive personations by one man, or (2) the mani- 
festations of an occult force. There is no escape from 
the syllogism. The battle must be fought out at that 
cabinet door. I realized this the first day I came ; I 
realize it tenfold now. The weeks I spent there, were 
weeks of as hard mental labor as I ever gave to any 
subject in my whole life. I passed through every 
degree of incredulity and distrust. I was ever on the 
watch lest I might miss some new circumstance calcu- 
lated to overturn my formed opinion, and ever ready 
to confess myself a dupe of impostors if the fact could 



120 LIABILITY TO BE DECEIVED. 

be demonstrated to me. But I finally reached the 
same point with Mr. Morrill — that whatever might be 
thought of the cause of the phenomena, they were not 
due to charlatanry or prestidigitation. And yet better 
men than I have been deceived before, and how am I 
better entitled than they to the public confidence, for the 
stories I tell ? Why should I expect sober-minded men 
and women to believe there is no fraud in all this, 
until they have the same opportunities as myself to see 
all and ponder on all ? And how, especially, can I ask 
men of exact science, trained to accept nothing, abso- 
lutely nothing, without full and complete demonstra- 
tion — mathematical demonstration? I do not; and, 
therefore, my office is to first tell my tale as clearly, 
succinctly, candidly as lies within my power, and let it 
carry conviction as far as it will, in its perfect integrity 
of statement. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MATERIALIZATION. 

UNQUESTIONABLY my first chapter about the 
materialization of spirit-forms at Chittenden, 
should be prefaced by some notice of the chro- 
nology of this phase of manifestation. But with the 
meagre facilities at my command when the major part of 
this work was written, I can only glance at the subject. 
A sparsely settled rural district, far removed from libraries, 
is a bad place for the collection of historical data, so I 
must mainly rely upon my memory of many books read 
in the course of many years. 

If I were to refer to ancient times, I might easily cite a 
host of instances of the alleged re-appearance of materi- 
alized spirits upon the scene of their pre-mortem activity. 
I have already alluded in former chapters to a few of the 
authors in whose writings the diligent student may satisfy 
his curiosity upon the subject. It suffices to repeat that 
the sacred writings of most nations, the classics, and the 
architectural remains of primitive races, afford proofs that 
the congenital aspirations of the human family for immor- 
tal existence, have not gone hungry for lack of sustenance. 

121 



122 PROTOPLASMS vs. THE SOUL. 

Our modern materialists may reason themselves into a 
comfortable reliance upon protoplasms and final mole- 
cules, and glibly set aside the claims of their opponents 
by endowing pure matter with the promise and potency 
of every form and quality of life ; but, after all, as the 
London Times truly says : 

" Theology is apparently slain only to revive. Professor Tyndall 
does not solve, and it is obvious that his method cannot enable him 
to solve, the riddle of the universe. There is, too, another difficulty 
which he is the first to confess. His analysis of the world's histoiy 
leaves out one-half of man, and he finds it impossible to deny to this 
other side of man's nature a reality as absolute as that which he 
claims for his physical faculties and for his understanding. The 
strain of reason and the emotions of his spiritual nature will not 
rest unrecognized, and when the end of the professor's address is 
reached, we echo his own thought if we say, ' There are more things 
in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in his philosophy.' " 

I venture to say, that of those who have given any serious 
thought to the subject, fifty persons would prefer to have 
my researches end in indubitable proof that the mani- 
festations are genuine, to one who would like to have me 
discover fraud beneath the surface. Says Guizot, in his 
" Meditations upon the Religious Questions of the Day " : 
" Belief in the supernatural is a fact natural, primitive, 
universal, and constant in the life and history of the 
human race. Unbelief in the supernatural begets mate- 
rialism, materialism sensuality, sensuality social convul- 
sions, amid whose storms man again learns to believe and 
pray." 

The great address of Tyndall at Belfast opened with 
the following majestic prelude: 

" An impulse inherent in primeval man turned his thoughts and 
questionings betimes toward the sources of natural phenomena. 
The same impulse, inherited and intensified, is the spur of scientific 
action to-day. Determined by it, by a process of abstraction from 



PROF. TYND ALL'S ADDRESS. 123 

experience, we form physical theories which lie beyond the pale of 
experience, but which satisfy the desire of the mind to see every 
natural occurrence resting upon a cause. In forming their notions 
of the origin of things, our earliest historic (and, doubtless, we might 
add, our pre-historic) ancestors pursued, as far as their intelligence 
permitted, the same course. They also fell back upon experience, 
but with this difference — that the particular experiences which 
furnished the weft and woof of their theories, were drawn, not from 
the study of nature, but from what lay much closer to them, the 
observation of men. Their theories accordingly took an anthropo- 
morphic form. To supersensual beings, which, ' however potent and 
invisible, were nothing but species of human creatures, perhaps 
raised from among mankind, and retaining all human passions and 
appetites,' were handed over the rule and governance of natural 
phenomena. Tested by observation and reflection, these early 
notions failed in the long run to satisfy the more penetrating intel- 
lects of our race. Far in the depths of history we find men of 
exceptional power differentiating themselves from the crowd, reject- 
ing these anthropomorphic notions, and seeking to connect natural 
phenomena with their physical principles. 

" But long prior to these purer efforts of the understanding the 
merchant had been abroad, and rendered the philosopher possible ; 
commerce had been developed, wealth amassed, leisure for travel and 
for speculation secured, while races educated under different con- 
ditions, and therefore differently informed and endowed, had been 
stimulated and sharpened by mutual contact. In those regions 
where the commercial aristocracy of ancient Greece mingled with 
its Eastern neighbors, the sciences were born, being nurtured and 
developed by free-thinking and courageous men. The state of 
things to be displaced, may be gathered from a passage of Euripides 
quoted by Hume. 'There is nothing in the world; no glory, no 
prosperity. The gods toss all into confusion, mix everything with 
its reverse, that all of us, from our ignorance and uncertainty, may 
pay them the more worship and reverence.' Now, as science 
demands the radical extirpation of caprice and the absolute reliance 
upon law in nature, there grew with the growth of scientific notions, 
a desire and determination to sweep from the field of theory this 
mob of gods and demons, and to place natural phenomena on a basis 
more congruent with themselves. The problem which had been 
previously approached from above, was now attacked from below ; 
theoretic effort passed from the super to the sub-sensible. It was 
felt that to construct the universe in idea, it was necessary to have 
some notion of its constituent parts — of what Lucretius subsequently 
called the ' First Beginnings.' Abstracting again from experience, 



124 UNDISCOVERED FORMS OF MATTER. 

the leaders of scientific speculation reached at length the pregnant 
doctrine of atoms and molecules, the latest developments of which 
were set forth with such power and clearness at the last meeting 
of the British Association." 

But, if I may humbly criticize one of so lofty an intel- 
lect, it appears to me that the course of scientific inquiry 
has led our modern philosophers too far towards the 
opposite extreme from that of Euripides. To disabuse 
the world of the notion that the powers of nature are not 
subject to the domination of gods and demons, which 
was a common belief so late as the XVIIth Century, and 
upon which the persecutions for witchcraft were based, it 
is not necessary to deny the existence of these invisible 
beings to Avhom the ancients applied the terms quoted, 
but whom we classify as developed and undeveloped 
spirits. 

To prove the potentiality of the ultimate of matter, it 
is not necessary that we should ignore the existence of 
spirit. To demonstrate the organic and inorganic con- 
stituents of the human body, does not involve the denial 
of the existence of the soul. If Tyndall and his associates 
would but once admit that there may be forms of matter 
and essences so subtle as to escape the test of their 
crucibles and scales, they would be at a point whence a 
whole new universe of research would open before them, 
inviting them to reach out for richer rewards of fame than 
ever before repaid the study and labor of philosopher or 
chemist. 

In looking back to the early days of American 
history, I cannot now recall any stories of " materializa- 
tion " prior to the close of the seventeenth century, when 
the storm of fanaticism arose that cost many worthy 



SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 125 

people their lives on the charge of witchcraft. In Mr. 
Upham's " History of Salem Witchcraft " will be found 
many instances of persons being taken hold of by visible 
supernatural forms, of persons being sat upon by spectres 
while lying in their beds, of animals suddenly entering 
rooms in a mysterious manner and as suddenly disap- 
pearing, to say nothing of levitations (such as that of 
Margaret Rule), rappings, the throwing about of heavy 
articles, and the hearing of spirit-voices by many wit- 
nesses. True, Mr. Upham ascribes the whole thing to 
trickery, assuming that by practice (acquired in the course 
of a single winter with the help of a half-breed Barbadoes 
slave-woman !) a few ignorant girls had " become wonder- 
ful adepts in the art of jugglery, and probably of ventril- 
oquism ; " but does this explanation satisfy any really 
candid inquirer ? Especially, does it satisfy any person 
who, in the presence of our modern mediums, has seen 
the same things repeated ? 

It was the prevalent belief among the learned of all 
professions, at the epoch in question, that the North 
American Indians v had migrated hither, by way of 
Behrings Straits, under a compact with the Devil to 
transfer allegiance from God to him ; receiving in return 
certain occult powers, by which they were enabled, not 
only to injure their fellow men, but also exercise more or 
less control over the elements. Witches were persons 
who had entered into a secret treaty with the Evil One 
through his allies, the Indians, and Cotton Mather, Sam. 
Parris, and other theologians of influence in the infant 
colony inculcated the doctrine that the execution of 

these unfortunates would find favor in the sight of God, 
5 



126 THE "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS." 

and proportionately distress and cripple the power of 
the Arch Enemy of mankind. 

The Salem witchcraft tragedies were followed by such 
a reaction, that tardy justice was done to the families of 
the victims of the popular frenzy, and nothing was said 
about supernaturalism — at least nothing, I think, that 
aroused general interest — until the present dispensation 
was ushered in at the little cabin of Michael Weekman, 
in 1847, where, in the family of John D. Fox, its then 
lessee, there bubbled up the tiny spring that is now so 
great a river. The raps and poundings which will always 
be known as the " Rochester Knockings " and forever 
perpetuate the memory of Kate and Margaret Fox, were 
followed by many other and more wonderful forms of 
manifestation, such as the lifting of heavy bodies, the 
phenomenal increase and diminution of their normal 
weight (the lightest articles acquiring marvellous ponder- 
osity and the heaviest equally notable levity), the ringing 
of bells, the playing by unseen performers on instruments, 
and, finally, by the materialization of spirit-hands, faces, 
and full forms. 

At the same time, however, that these things were going 
on and the attention of the civilized world was arrested 
by them, similar phenomena were happening in other 
private families. The Davenports, of Buffalo, N. Y., 
were having some slight premonitions of the future career 
^ they were destined for, but the physical manifestations 
did not occur in their presence until February, 1855. A 
year before this the Koons family, of Athens County, 
Ohio, had instrumental and vocal concerts by the spirits, 
and materialized hands wrote communications. 



INDEPENDENT MA TERIALIZA TION. 1 2 7 

But the Eddys tell me that they had been seeing 
materialized spirit-forms from their childhood, and their 
mother before them, and, in the absence of conflicting 
evidence, I suppose that the credit will have to be 
awarded to them of witnessing the first instances of this 
highest form of physical manifestation, occurring in our 
time. And yet, notwithstanding this fact, and the 
additional one, that no family so gifted in these rare 
psychological traits is to be found in history, their names 
are not even mentioned in Epes Sargent's " Planchette," 
one of the most scholarly works on Spiritualism in our 
language. It should be remarked, however, in explana- 
tion of this fact, that Mr. Sargent informs me that he 
applied to the Eddys for permission to visit their home, 
and was refused by Horatio ; who probably answered his 
letter in haste, not recognizing the name as that of so able 
an author and so enlightened a Spiritualist. 

One evening, in March, 1872, the Eddy family were 
sitting about the fire, when an event occurred that 
ushered in the series of materializations that have cul- 
minated in the public seances now given nightly. 
William had cut his foot very badly with an axe, and 
was confined to his bed in an adjoining room. Sud- 
denly, without warning, the grandmother's spirit in full 
materialized form appeared at the threshold, and gave 
instruction for some salves to apply to the wound, and 
a cooling draught to abate the fever that had set in; 
after which she disappeared. Shortly after this, when 
Delia Eddy was engaged in reducing some maple-sugar 
over the kitchen fire, the spirit of a man of short 
stature suddenly materialized himself, frightening her 



128 " WHITE SPIRITS AND GRA V." 

so that she dropped a pan of sugar she was carrying. 
The spirits then told the family that William was to 
be developed as the greatest medium of the age, and 
that he must no longer sit for the instrument-playing 
exhibitions, as he had been doing for a number of 
years, but must go into the cabinet or closet alone and 
take no bells or instruments with him. 

These instructions being obeyed, spirit-faces soon 
began to appear, and finally Santum, the giant Winne- 
bago chief, whom my readers will recollect my men- 
tioning in connection with the seance at Honto's cave, 
stalked out in full form. For a long while no other 
spirit came, but finally they made their appearance. 
"Electa," alight-complexioned squaw, about seventeen 
years of age, who always brings her pet robin with her, 
and who forms one of the spirit-band who perform 
instrumental music at the dark circles, (many of which 
I have attended, and which will be described in due 
time), was among the earliest visitors. Then the 
deceased members of their own family appeared — 
among them Miranda, who came hand in hand with a 
young man, named Griffin Grinnell, to whom she had 
been betrothed. The lovers, parted for a while by 
death, were reunited beyond the grave. 

Francis and James, their deceased brothers, came 
too. Then, as people began to flock to the old farm- 
house, their personal friends manifested their presence, 
the first, or nearly the first (for the family cannot defi- 
nitely decide the point), being a Mrs. Anny Barker, 
wife of G. Barker, of Hubbellton, Vt. One evening, 
a young lady visitor saw the shade of her father, the 



A SriRIT IN UNIFORM. 129 

late Captain Johnson, United States Navy, who came 
in citizen's clothes. The daughter mentally requested 
him to appear to her in his uniform, whereupon he 
retired for a moment and then returned in full naval 
dress, with sword and epaulettes. 

This is one instance among many of the doing of 
something by the apparitions in response to mental 
requests made by spectators. The thing has occurred 
to me several times, as will be seen further on. It 
should also be noted that this supposed spirit re-appeared 
in the uniform of his rank, and it is hardly credible 
that William Eddy, in addition to all the other costumes 
uninformed skeptics imagine his wardrobe to contain, 
should have a full assortment of army and navy uni- 
forms, for officers and privates. 

What tender memories in many minds cling about 
this rude apartment, where so many can say : 

" Ere the evening lamps are lighted, 

And, like phantoms grim and tall, 
Shadows from the fitful fire-light 

Dance upon the parlor wall ; 
Then the forms of the departed 

Enter at the open door ; 
The beloved, the true-hearted, 

Come to visit me once more." 



CHAPTER IX, 

THE FIRST SEANCE. 

THE now famous circle-room was built last Decem- 
ber, and opened to the public on the evening of 
January ist, 1874, on which occasion the exercises 
began with a dark-circle, at which the spirit, or what 
is claimed to be the spirit, of a sailor, named George 
Dix, made a lengthy dedicatory address. He declared, 
among other things, that the apartment was to be used 
solely for spiritual seances, with the occasional excep- 
tion of a quiet dance. After the dark-circle, one of the 
usual kind for materializing was held, and addresses 
and prayers were spoken by the spirits of Mrs. Eddy; 
"Mrs. Eaton" (an old lady from New York State, who 
made her first appearance here in October, 1872, during 
her granddaughter's visit, and has acted as assistant 
directress of seances ever since) ; a Mrs. "Wheeler, late 
of Utica; Doctor Horton, also late of Utica, who 
brought his two baby children in his arms and addressed 
his widow ; and the elder of these two children, little 
Minna, who spoke some words of comfort to her weep- 
ing mother. 

Since that eventful evening, William has held a mate- 
130 



WILLIAM EDD Y AND DA VID D. HOME. 131 

rialization circle every evening, Sundays excepted ; a 
circumstance that, in view of the usual serious exhaus- 
tion felt by mediums, is very remarkable. Mr. Crookes 
says of David Home, the famous medium, that the 
psychic force by which the phenomena are produced, is 
attended by an expenditure of his vital force or nervous 
energy, proportionate to the degree of its activity of 
manifestation. Its flow through Mr. Home's system 
"varies enormously," says Mr. Crookes, " not only from 
week to week, but from hour to hour ; on some occa- 
sions the force is inappreciable by my tests for an hour 
or more, and then suddenly re-appears in great strength." 
He testifies to " witnessing the painful state of nervous 
and bodily prostration in which some of these experi- 
ments have left Mr. Home" — to " seeing him lying in 
an almost fainting condition on the floor, pale and 
speechless" — and yet I, myself, having attended at 
about fifty of William Eddy's materializations, can cer- 
tify that, beyond a slight appearance of fatigue imme- 
diately after emerging from the cabinet, he seems as 
well as usual. He goes about his daily avocations, 
takes no rest to speak of, says he has eaten nothing for 
weeks but a little fruit, and yet, after as many as eighteen 
ghosts have appeared in a single evening, his pulse is 
regular, and he resumes the pipe that he laid down at 
the moment of entering the circle-room. 

If his materializations were nothing but trickery, 
this might easily be accounted for, but I have satisfied 
myself, and hope to satisfy the public beyond reason- 
able doubt, that this is not the case. A pseudo-scientist 
has recently spent one evening here, and is getting 



132 BOGUS INVESTIGATORS. 

ready to publish in a book his conviction that both I and 
the hundreds of other lay spectators have been deceived. 
Has spent one evening, I say, and nevertheless writes 
me that he is convinced, and requires " no more 
evidence to convince the scientific world," that it is all 
fraud. How different from the late Professor Hare, 
who devoted years to the subject of spiritual inter- 
course, and did not give his adherence to the doctrine 
until he had completed a long series of scientific tests 
and experiments ; and from Mr. Crookes, one of the 
first scientific men in Great Britain, who spent three 
years in the inquiry before he avowed himself satisfied ! 

I reached Chittenden on my present mission, September 
17th, 1874, and attended a circle the same evening. Out- 
side a violent gale of wind was blowing, the clouds hung 
low, the rain fell, and the atmospheric conditions would 
in almost any other locality have been considered 
unfavorable. A company of twenty-five persons assembled 
in the circle-room, among them several who, like myself, 
had arrived that day. Shortly after seven o'clock William 
entered the cabinet, and we waited expectantly for our 
weird visitors. To promote harmony of feeling among 
the persons present, vocal and instrumental music was 
resorted to, continuity of sound and rapidity of time 
seeming to be more necessary than quality of execution. 

I will say here that I have failed to get from Spiritual- 
ists any very satisfactory explanation of the part that 
music plays in these manifestations, and for lack of a 
better will suggest one of my own. Pre-supposing that 
there is such a thing in the human system as the force 
mistermed "magnetic," sometimes " odic," and more 



THEORY OF SriRIT-CONTROL. 133 

recently " psychic," which has its polarites, its positive 
and negative qualities ; and that persons may be classed 
among the positives and negatives respectively, the effect 
of music, by concentrating attention upon itself, is to 
reduce the positives to passivity, and by nervous stimula- 
tion exalt the negatives to something of an equality of 
condition with their more forceful neighbors. The result 
is equilibrium bet%veen the two extremes, and consequent 
receptivity : then, going so far as to concede that there 
are such things as spirits, and that they can exert an 
appreciable magnetic, odic, psychic (or whatever we 
choose to call it) influence upon us, it is not difficult to 
see that they are placed in such a positive attitude towards 
their medium and his circle, as to enable them to force 
their power upon us to the degree of producing the several 
phases of manifestations. 

The logician will say, that much is taken for granted in 
this proposition, and so I will leave him to first note the 
features of these phenomena wherever occurring, and 
then at his leisure construct a better theory than mine. 

So much for the psychological aspect of the case, and 
to this extent some enlightened Spiritualists precede me. 
But why should the spirits demand quick tunes — jigs, 
waltzes, reels, and compositions of like character, in 
which the constant repetition of the same notes occurs in 
presto or prestissimo measure ? May the answer not be 
suggested by two of Professor Tyndall's lectures at the 
Royal Institution, in one of which he demonstrated that 
a ray of light was allowed to traverse a strip of glass 
every time he caused it to set up a musical sound ; the 
glass being held in a vice, and the light from an electric 
5* 



134 THE RHYTHM OF FLAMES. 

lamp polarized upon it ; and in the other, upon " The 
Rhythm of Flames," in which he showed that a flame 
twenty inches in height would fall down to eight on the 
slightest tap on an anvil. It responded to the tinkle of a 
bunch of keys or a few pence shaken together, the creak- 
ing of boots, the rustling of a silk dress or a piece of 
paper; while certain intonations of the voice threw it 
into violent commotion. (Epes Sargent's " Planchette," 
p. 379). If we put ourselves for the purposes of this 
inquiry into the position of the Spiritualists, we might 
reasonably demand that men of science, investigating the 
subject, should not overlook the fact, that much light may 
be gained upon the nature and properties of this new 
occult force, by experiments in this direction. I have 
heard this call for rapid music, so often made, that I have 
come to the conclusion that equal, constant, and rapid 
vibrations of the atmosphere, play an important part in 
the production of the phenomenon of materialization. 

I am also satisfied that careful experiments in the 
matter of the intensity and quality of the light used, 
would result in unexpected and great discoveries. May 
it not be, that the yellow ray bears some such relation to 
spirit-materializations as it does to photography? 

Doctor H. T. Child, of Philadelphia, writes me that, 
while he thinks that if we understood this law, the mate- 
rializations might be better, in his opinion it is more 
important to have a good medium and good circle. He 
has known instances, where a circle containing rude and 
uncongenial persons, got nothing satisfactory ; while one 
following it, on the same evening, obtained everything 
that could be desired. 



U MKS. EATON" AND " HON TO." 135 

We had not sat many minutes in our first " circle " 
before a voice — the piping treble of an old woman — 
addressed to us some remarks from behind the curtain 
that hung over the open door of the cabinet, to the effect 
that this was a bad night for manifestations, and none but 
the strongest spirits could show themselves. I may as 
well at once admit, that this voice had such peculiarities 
of accent and provincial expressions, as to excite the sus- 
picion that it was William speaking in falsetto. So I 
crossed that off, in my note-book as a fact of no value to 
the Spiritualists ; but since then, having seen the woman 
herself — Mrs. Eaton — and heard her address me person- 
ally from a distance of not more than ten feet, in the 
self-same voice, I re-entered the fact and transcribe it 
here. 

The curtain presently stirred, and the Indian woman 
named Honto, stepped on the platform. She appears 
young, dark complexioned, of marked Indian features, 
lithe and springy in movement, full of fun, natural in 
manner, and full of inquisitiveness. She measures 5 feet 
3 inches in height, against a painted scale I had placed 
beside the cabinet door. To William Eddy she bears 
not the slightest resemblance in any particular, all asser- 
tions of any superficial observer to the contrary, notwith- 
standing. I have seen her about thirty times, and have 
necessarily enjoyed ample opportunities to compare her 
with William in every particular. Nevertheless, the first 
two times I saw her, I was so deceived by the dull light 
as to fancy her the same as William in height and bulk. 
In this circle-room, one's eye must be educated, as it 
must at sea, to judge of distances, or in a mountainous 



136 HON TO ' S* COSTUMES. 

region, to estimate the height and distance of the various 
peaks. Let any one try even so simple an experiment, as 
to judge how high a man's hat will come against the wall 
when set upon the floor, and some idea will be attained 
of the optical difficulties to be overcome, before one can 
form a correct impression of the relative heights of the 
spirits who present themselves. 

She changes her dress frequently, sometimes appear- 
ing in a dark skirt with light overdress, shaped like the 
garment called a polonaise ; sometimes with these shades 
reversed ; sometimes with light clothing throughout and 
a sash around her waist, or bands crossed over her bosom ; 
sometimes with a cap, and at others bareheaded ; some- 
times with her black hair a yard or more in length, flowing 
over her shoulders, and again with it braided in a single 
rope down her back. A remarkable fact is, that at times 
her hair is very long, and at others not longer than the 
artist has represented it in the picture. I have seen her 
with what seemed to be buckskin leggins, and a short 
dress reaching a little below the knee ; and again, with high 
moccasins trimmed about the top with what looked like 
fur. Others tell me that they have seen her in a dress 
upon which were two rows of phosphorescent buttons 
gleaming in the obscure light like great diamonds, that 
ran from each shoulder in curved lines to the bottom of 
her skirt, but I have not seen the costume myself. 

The sketch represents one of the phenomena attending 
the appearance of this spirit-girl, and is what I witnessed 
on the evening in question. Honto steps either to the 
wall or to one of the two persons — Mrs. R. Cleveland and 
Mr. E. V. Pritchard, of Albany, N. Y.— who usually 




L 



THE BE A TING HE A RT. 139 

occupy chairs on the platform, and suddenly produces 
a knitted shawl or a long piece of gauzy fabric, apparently 
from the air itself, and exhibits it to the audience. The 
light in the room is so very bad — about as strong as that 
in the parlor when we sit before the dying embers " 'twixt 
the gloamin' and the mirk " before the lamps are lighted 
— that it is impossible to see the features of Honto or the 
pattern of her shawl ; but the sketch shows the latter as 
it appeared to us. She threw the slender fabric over the 
railing, and so gave us an opportunity to see that its 
strands were perfectly opaque.* . Then throwing it over 
her head as a Spanish woman wears her mantilla, she 
produced another, woolen, black and apparently striped ; 
and then passed both behind the curtain. 

Somebody in the audience then asked if she would 
allow Mrs. Cleveland to feel the beating of her heart ; 
whereupon she opened her dress and Mrs. Cleveland laid 
her hand upon the bare flesh. It felt cold and moist, 
not like that of a living person. The breast was a 
woman's, and the heart beat feebly but rhythmically. The 
same pulsation was felt in the wrist. Honto's hand was 
hard and of medium size, her fingers broad but not 
stumpy, its color dark — in a word, the hand of an Indian. 

After Honto retired, various other spirits of Indians 
and Whites (among the latter two little children) appeared 
before us, but I must reserve further description for 
another chapter. 



* The platform-railing has been omitted in this and other full- 
page pictures, because of the in artistic effect of so many straight 
lines, and the additional fact that they interfere with the view of the 
groups. This railing is a nuisance, at any rate, and should be 
removed, Its only conceivable use, that I can see, is to deter rude 
spectators from rushing forward to grasp the phantoms. 



CHAPTER X. 

MANY PHANTOM VISITORS. 

THE next materialized spirit to make its appear- 
ance after Honto, was that of a dark -faced 
squaw, who calls herself " Bright Star." She is 
shapely, tall, well-proportioned, and of a dignified car- 
riage. She dresses in dark clothing, trimmed with 
bands of white that look to us like broad tape in the 
dim light, but that Mr. Pritchard says are beads. On 
her head she wears a sort of frontlet, in the centre of 
which is a jewel or luminous spot, that gives out a 
phosphorescent gleam, shining in the obscurity like the 
diamond in a rajah's turban. I have seen this spirit six 
times to the present writing, and she always appears 
dressed alike. 

Next came " Daybreak," another squaw, dressed in 
dark costume, who danced to the playing of the violin, 
and then suddenly passed into the cabinet. As I shall 
have frequent occasion to refer to the dancing of 
spirits, especially Honto, who invariably indulges in 
this amusement, I may as well say that William Eddy's 

movements in the dance are as different from those of 

140 



SANTUM THE INDIAN. 141 

any of the former as possible. Several times we had 
dancing in the hall for an hour or so before the organi- 
zation of the circle, and I noticed that William's 
motions are devoid of suppleness and agility. Though 
he thoroughly enjoys himself and shows no reserve, he 
holds his arms somewhat akimbo, his head back and 
to one side, and his stomach projected ; while Ilonto's 
body sways like that of a Zingala or an Oriental almeh 
— lithe and graceful. William was evidently cut out 
for a great medium, but not for a dancer. 

" Daybreak " gone, then came " Santum," whose 
appearance as regards stature and bulk is calculated to 
excite surprise. He measures 6 feet 3 inches, full half 
a foot more than the medium. His dress appears to be 
a hunting-shirt of dressed buckskin, striped perpendic- 
ularly and fringed at the seams, leggings of the same 
and fringed the same, a feather in his head, and some- 
times he wears a powder-horn slung by a belt across 
his shoulder. This horn is a real one, presented to the 
spirit some time ago by a visitor, who also gave Honto 
an embroidered cap that she sometimes wears. 

After Santum came two other Indian men, and then 
several whites made their bow to the audience. The 
first of these was William H. Reynolds, late of the shoe- 
manufacturing firm of Reynolds Brothers, Utica, N. Y. 
During the war he was Colonel of the 14th N. Y. 
Artillery, attached to the 9th Army Corps, and died 
May 6th, 1874, of fever, contracted in the service. He 
was dressed in black and wore a full beard. As well 
as I could distinguish, he was a square-shouldered, 
gentlemanly appearing man. His shirt was white, and 



142 THE REYNOLDS BROTHERS. 

I could see the collar distinctly. William Eddy wore, 
as he always does, a brown checked-gingham shirt, 
without collar or cuffs. 

This spirit was followed by his brother, John E. Rey- 
nolds, who died in New York State, Nov. 15th, i860. 
He wore a dark suit, and no beard on his face except a 
moustache. He graduated at Harvard University, but 
I am not informed as to the year. His shoulders 
sloped quite differently from William's, and he was 
quite another looking person. 

Then Mr. George A. Reynolds, the surviving brother, 
recognized his nephew, Stephen R. Hopkins, a lad of 
fifteen, with light, curly hair. Mr. Reynolds asked 
'' Mrs. Eaton," the spirit directress, if she would answer 
a mental question, and her voice immediately replied : 
" Don't give yourself any anxiety about that ; you are 
a medium fast .enough already ;" which, the interroga- 
tor informed me, was what he desired to know. 

We were next favored with the appearance in the 
closet-door, of the tall figure of the late William Brown, 
of York, Pa. He is the father of Edward Brown, who 
married Delia Eddy a few months ago, and he makes 
his salutation to the audience nearly every evening. 
He is six feet, one inch, in stature, has white hair, no 
beard, and dresses in a black suit of the Quaker cut. 

His son sat in Mrs. Andrews' circle, at Moravia, N. 
Y., twice a day for a whole year without seeing any of 
his friends, and the same bad luck followed him here 
for four or five weeks, at the expiration of which time 
his father presented himself. For a while he could not 
speak at all ; then he uttered a few simple greetings in 



WILLIAM BRO tVM 143 

a faint whisper; and at length he conversed in a strong, 
full, natural voice, saying whatsoever he pleased with 
as great ease apparently, as in life. Except at one 
seance in London, in 1870, with a noted lady medium, 
I had never heard a spirit-voice before, and confess that 
I was amazed to hear Mr. Brown's, issue from his lips 
as though a living man stood before me and not a being 
from the other world, clothed for a brief moment in a 
body like my own. I leave theorists to settle the vexed 
question, whether spirits actually employ the organs of 
speech to articulate sounds, or by their will-power 
cause certain vibrations of the air outside of and inde- 
pendent of lips, palate, and tongue, in imitation of 
spoken words. I can only say that after hearing 
numerous spirit-addresses and conversations, I have 
detected no difference in the movements of the lips, 
from those of a living person. 

Allan Kardec, a French spiritist author, calls the 
phenomenon of spirit-speaking, pneumatophony, and 
affirms it to be the result of the exercise of will-power 
upon the invisible fluids of the atmosphere. He says 
(p. 194): 

" Spirits, being able to produce noises and rappings, can as well 
make any sound of nature, vocal sounds imitating the human voice, 
beside us or in the air. From what we know of the nature of spirits, 
it may be believed that some of them of an inferior order delude 
themselves, and believe they speak as when alive. (See Revue Spir- 
He, February, 1858 : History of the Ghost of Mile. Clarion.) 

" It is necessary to guard against taking for spirit-voices all sounds 
that have no known cause. . . . Spirit or pneumatophonic sounds 
have two very distinct methods of being produced ; sometimes it is a 
voice which resounds in the soul, but while the words may be clear 
and distinct, there is nothing material in them ; at other times they 
are exterior and as distinctly articulated as if they came from a 
person at our side. In whatever manner they may be produced, 



144 THE BABY GHOSTS. 

the phenomenon of pneumatophony is almost always spontaneous, 
and can be very rarely induced." 

These are the generalizations of a writer whose 
experience, wide as it was, did not include such wonders 
as are common at Chittenden. I defy him or any other 
acute person to listen to this spirit of Mr. Brown and 
detect any difference, either in volume of sound, accent, 
or the mechanical process by which it is produced, 
between this voice and that of any living person of equal 
age. Even the pumping sound of re-filling the lungs 
with air after the articulation of sentences is readily 
noticeable. 

The phenomena of the evening concluded with the inci- 
dent which furnished the subject of the accompanying 
sketch of "The Re-united Family." A German music- 
teacher of Hartford, named Max Lenzberg, and a very 
worthy gentleman, to whom I am indebted for numerous 
acts of courtesy for which I desire to make acknowledg- 
ment, was at Chittenden with his wife and daughter. At 
Mr. Eddy's request he played on the flute during the 
seance, and so occupied a chair in advance of the front 
row of spectators and within a few feet of the cabinet. 
After Mr. Brown's disappearance, the curtain was again 
drawn aside, and we saw standing at the threshold, two 
children. One was a baby of about one year, and the 
other a child of twelve or thirteen. Behind them, very 
indistinctly, could be observed the form of an old woman, 
who held up the curtain with her left hand and supported 
the baby with her right. Mrs. Lenzberg, with a mother's 
instinct, recognized her departed little ones, and with • 
tender pathos, eagerly asked in German if they were not 



m 



THE RE-UNION. 147 

hers. Immediately there came several loud responsive 
raps, and the little Lena, as if drawn from her mother's 
side by an irresistible power, crept forward and peered 
at the forms that stood just at the edge of the black 
shadows of the cabinet. There was a moment's silence 
as she strained her eyes in the gaze, and then she said 
joyfully : " Ja ! Ihr seid meine kleitie schwestcrn ! Nicht 
wahr ? " There came again responsive raps, and the 
spirit-forms danced and waved their arms as if in glee at 
the re-union. 

Some skeptics who have been here, in their eagerness 
to attribute the Eddy phenomena to any other than 
spiritual origin, have maintained that the baby forms 
exhibited are made either of pillows or white wrappings 
around William's legs. A sufficient answer to such asser- 
tions may be found in the fact that I have more than 
once seen babes in arms, nestle in the necks of their 
bearers and clasp their arms about their necks, and heard 
those standing, like the little Lenzberg children, speak. A 
very dear little girl whom I have twice seen during my 
visit, kissed her hand to me. This spirit at her second 
appearance \yzis dressed in a short white frock, low- 
necked and short-sleeved, with a sash around her waist 
and ribbons at the shoulders. 

The picture of a young girl with her head and shoulders 
emerging from a sort of fog or steamy vapor, which I 
print in connection with this chapter, is given because of 
the sweetness of the face, and of its supposed representa- 
tion of the process of materialization. It was procured 
by me from Mrs. Eliza P. Morrill, of Springfield, Mass., 



1 48 SP URIO US PI/0 TOGRA PUS. 

whom I met at the Eddys', and it is one of Mumler's so- 
called '" spirit-photographs." 

While I have no confidence in this picture, or in fact, 
in any emanating from the same source, as directly or 
indirectly of spiritual origin, yet many very worthy and 
intelligent people, including Mr. Epes Sargent, do, and 
this portrait will be regarded by such as among the best 
specimens of the kind. 

In fact, with the exception of the photographs taken in 
London under Mr. Crookes' own supervision, and under 
test conditions, I have never seen any of the so-called 
spirit-photographs that appeared to me genuine. I have 
in my possession one of those taken by Holmes, of Phila- 
delphia, of a young woman whom he is pleased to call 
" Katie King ; " but, to say nothing of the dissimilarity 
in likeness between this girl and the original " Katie," of 
London, the picture seems to bear upon its face intrinsic 
marks of fraud. 

If any explanation is required, let the inquirer examine 
the shadow under the alleged spirit's chin, which was 
evidently added with a brush and ink after the negative 
was taken. I noticed this before I heard of the bad 
reputation Holmes and his wife left behind them in 
England, and long before the appearance of a recent 
joint card of their agent, Doctor Child, and the Hon. 
Robert Dale Owen withdrawing their previous indorse- 
ment of the good character of these mediums. 

Mr. Owen tells us, that when the figure that he supposes 
to have been the original and real Katie King, dissolved 
her materialized body in Philadelphia, she faded away 
into thin vapor and gradually disappeared; whereas 




LIGHT-HEART, DISSOLVING. 



DISSOL VING SriRITS. 149 

Honto, in my presence one evening, losing her power, 
sank f as it were, into the floor up to her waist, the upper 
portion of her body retaining its full solidity. 

I have communications from various persons attest- 
ing to the fact of their seeing materialized spirit-forms 
dissolve in view of the circle, at the Eddys'. Among 
the most convincing is the following, from a worthy 
gentleman residing in Hartford : 

Hartford, Conn., December 8th, 1874. 
Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry as to my seeing a spirit-form 
dissolve outside the door of William Eddy's cabinet, I take pleasure 
in communicating the following facts : 

' In June last, I visited Chittenden, in company with my wife, 
wife's sister, Mrs. Waite, of this city, and a friend from Waterbury. 
On one evening during our stay, my wife's mother, a former resident 
of Hartford, who deceased March, 1859, at the age of 78 years, 
appeared to us in white clothing, looking so natural that we recog- 
nized her instantly. She stood outside the cabinet curtain, leaned 
her body forward, and stretched out her arms to her daughter, as 
though she were longing to embrace her. Mrs. Prior asked the 
spirit if she could not speak to us, and she seemed to make a des- 
perate effort to comply. But suddenly, as if she had exhausted all 
her power of materialization in the attempt, her arms dropped, and 
her form melted down to the floor, and disappeared from our view. 
The figure did not dissolve into a mist and disperse laterally, but 
sank down and disappeared, as if every particle comprising her 
frame had suddenly lost its cohesion with every other, and the whole 
fell into a heap together. Yours truly, 

To Col. H. S. Olcott. Franklin Bolles. 

One evening, in July last, at a circle at the same 
place, Honto's form disappeared from sight in an 
equally sudden and unaccountable manner. The cir- 
cumstance is narrated, in a letter to me, by Mrs. Doctor 
T. G. Horton, of Utica, N. Y., as follows : 

On the evening in question, Honto came out as usual, material- 
ized shawls, to the number, perhaps, of half a dozen, then retired 



1 5 o UNSA TISFA CTOR Y E VIDENCE. 

into the cabinet, reappeared, came to the railing, stood there a 
moment, and, to our amazement, began to settle down to the floor 
and dissolve, until all form of a human being disappeared, and there 
seemed nothing but a mass of drapery lying close to the railing. 
This also melted slowly away, and every vestige of her was gone. 
In about a minute or two she reappeared from the cabinet, smiling, 
and seeming as if nothing had happened. She stood again by the 
railing and again dissolved as before. William Eddy was not able 
to give a sitting the next day. 

I may as well add to Mrs. Horton's narrative, the 
fact that when I saw Honto dissolve up to her waist, 
she was close to the curtain, and pushing it aside with 
her right arm, passed into the cabinet. Mrs. Cleveland 
had been dancing with her a moment before, and saw 
her after she had gone behind the shawl. She says 
that the spirit-squaw was not more than a foot and a 
half high when she lost sight of her. It was not two 
minutes before she frisked out again as lively as ever. 

These several instances, happening in the view of a 
number of respectable persons, at various times, offer 
strong and mutually corroborative proof of the fact, 
that the dissolution of materialized spirit-forms, has 
occurred in the mediumship of William Eddy. But I" 
confess, upon a question of such great moment, I am 
not satisfied to take even so much as the above and 
consider the case proven. In my opinion, it is indis- 
pensable that the phenomenon should be repeated 
under such strictly test conditions as to leave no room 
for more than one opinion. 

Such conditions I should consider : ist. The having 
William Eddy so shut into the farther end of his cabinet, 
by means of a door that should be bolted upon him, 
that he could not possibly come before the audience 



REQUIRED TESTS. \$\ 

until the experiment was concluded, and until after the 
occurrence of the phenomenon ; or, 2d. The enclosure 
of the alleged materialized spirit-form in a cylinder of. 
cloth, paper, or wire-netting, which could be fastened 
to the floor so as to effectually prevent the escape there- 
from of any living person, and the subsequent dissolu- 
tion and disappearance of the spirit-body from the 
cylinder ; or, 3d. The dissolution of the form upon the 
platform, in the view of the audience, while its ankles 
were fastened to the railing in so secure a manner that 
no living person could release himself or herself with- 
out detection ; or, 4th. The perforation of the alleged 
spirit-form before dissolution by some weapon, in such 
a way that if trickery were intended, the person would 
be severely wounded and so discover his fraud. If 
close approach were permitted, it would be easy to 
satisfy oneself of the reality of the spirit-form by clasp- 
ing it in one's arms and having it dis-matcrialize itself 
while thus held. Or one of its hands might be rubbed 
with croton oil or some other blistering substance, or 
discolored with nitrate of silver. Submission to one 
or all of these crucial tests would settle this whole 
question, once and forever. 

No investigator's report of experiments made in the 
testing of spiritualistic phenomena, is worthy of a 
moment's serious consideration until he proves that he 
has disembarrassed the problem of the element of con- 
federacy. Until he makes it appear that it is impossible 
for any secreted allies to come to the assistance of the 
medium, we may as well spare our time from profitless 
waste in reading what he says, for there is no security for 



152 MA TERIA L IZA TION NO T A L IV A YS PERFE C T. 

the genuineness of anything he has seen. But after 
divesting the case of this feature, we have only one 
alternative to consider, viz. : Whether the " materializa- 
tions " are real, or the figures merely personated by the 
medium. This is what I did with William Eddy's 
cabinet; what Mr. Crookes did with Florence Cook's, in 
London ; and what ought to have been done with the 
Holmes' in Philadelphia. Neglect to do this, brought 
upon Mr. Owen and Dr. Child, the humiliating necessity 
to publish a card that throws unnecessary suspicion upon 
every genuine phenomenon they witnessed, during the 
past summer. 

It appears that it is not necessary that the bodies of the 
spirits who manifest themselves in William's circle, should 
be fully materialized in every part. One evening, Mrs. 
Cleveland, a neighbor, who is generally requested to take 
§, seat upon the platform, and who is a great favorite with 
Honto, was dancing with that spirit, and by accident 
took hold of her arm below the shoulder, when she found 
to her horror that it was not materialized, and her hand 
grasped only the sleeve of the robe. The hand was a 
solid hand attached to a vapory arm. 

The spirits themselves say they have to learn the art of 
self-materialization as one would any other art. At first 
they could only make tangible hands, as in the cases of 
the Davenports, the Foxs, and others, including the 
Eddys. In fact, some mediums have never got beyond 
this stage. Others, like Mrs. Andrews, of Moravia, N. Y., 
the Potts Brothers, of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Slade, of 
New York City, have masks or full heads appear ; while 
the most powerful mediums, like Florence Coo'k, of 



JUDICIOUS CAUTION OBSERVED. 153 

London, the Holmeses, of Philadelphia, (who, despite 
their trickery, are admitted by Messrs. Crookes, Sergeant 
Cox, Owen, Mrs. Andrews, and others, to be great 
mediums, under favoring conditions,) and particularly 
these wonderful Eddys, seem to furnish the spirits with 
the means of calling before us, the materialized shapes 
of people of every nation and kindred and tongue. 

I say seem, although the careful experiments of Mr. 
Crookes, under test conditions, have apparently demon- 
strated the veritable visitation of a materialized spirit to 
the world she left two centuries ago. The Philadelphia 
"Katie King materializations " appear, at the date of 
this writing, to have been wholly, or at least in great part, 
fraudulent; and the forms I saw at Chittenden, while 
apparently defying any other explanation than that they 
are of supersensual origin, are still, as a scientific fact, to 
be regarded as " not proven." Mr. Robert Dale Owen, 
in his recent card to the public repudiating the Holmes 
manifestations, considers the question of materialization 
to be fully demonstrated by the results attained by Mr. 
Crookes and myself; but I prefer to set those of the 
former gentleman by themselves, and far above anything 
I can offer as a contribution to our present stock of 
knowledge, for I had no such chances as his to verify 
the phenomena I witnessed. 



CHAPTER XI. 

ARE THEY PERSONATIONS? 

HAVING divested our problem of the element of 
confederacy, and made it clear that the forms 
presenting themselves in William's materialization 
circle, must be ascribed either to personations of charac- 
ter by the medium, or the manifestation of an occult 
force, the way lies smooth before us. 

A man to be a successful personator must have a cer- 
tain range of talents which any theatrical manager can 
enumerate for us. He must: i. Be a natural actor; 
2. Have professional training; 3. Be of average size, 
so that attention may not be attracted to any extreme 
disparity between his own figure and those of the charac- 
ters he represents ; 4. Have access to a theatrical ward- 
robe, furnished with numerous wigs, costumes, shoes, and 
properties; 5. Have time to "make up his face," where 
fair, swarthy, and black complexions are required ; 
6. Have a good light to dress by; 7. Have room to 
dress in ; 8. Be supple, of a vivacious temperament, 
and accustomed to a great variety of people. In addition 
to these the personator of the Eddy ghosts would need 
. iS4 




WILLIAM EDDY IN. EVERY-DAY DRESS. 



WILLIAM AND HIS CABINET, 157 

a knowledge of many languages, at least to the extent 
of being able to hold brief conversations. 

I think I have fairly stated the case. I leave it to 
Lingard, or any other " character-sketch " delineator to 
say, whether this is so or not. And now let the intelligent 
reader cast his eyes upon the life-like, full-length sketch 
of the medium, William H. Eddy, as he appears every 
day, all day, and, barring the hat, at the moment of his 
entrance into his " cabinet," and say whether he fills my 
outline in any particular. He has not one peculiarity of 
temperament, or physical organization, in common with 
the professional actor. He is clumsy instead of supple ; 
never acted on any stage or privately in his life ; is five 
feet nine inches high, and weighs 179 pounds; has not a 
shred of theatrical clothing in the house, nor a wig, nor 
stage shoes, nor properties ; the ghosts appear after inter- 
missions of from a half minute to four and five minutes ; 
Indians succeeding whites, or vice versa, men women, or 
the contrary, and children grown persons, the most 
striking dissimilarities in person being as often after the 
briefest as the longest intervals ; his cabinet is pitch dark, 
the door is never closed, and only a woolen shawl hangs 
before the entrance, through which the gleam of even a 
rushlight would show plainly ; his cabinet measures two 
feet in width by seven in length ; there is neither shelf, 
nor cupboard, nor hanging-closet, where properties could 
be stored, and the only window is effectually sealed up 
with my own signet, against all access from without ; his 
temperament is bilious-nervous, his movements slow and 
devoid of springiness, his eye sad and introspective; 
household duties, such as women ordinarily engage in, 



158 HIS TEMPERAMENTAL PECULIARITIES. 

occupy him to the very time when he begins his seances ; 
he has lived within himself, a simple, quiet, suffering life, 
making few intimate friends, being in the world but not 
of it; a recluse, in fact, by nature, who seems more 
familiar with the beings we call uncanny, than those who 
jostle us in this world, as we move along towards our 
common goal. 

As for his linguistic accomplishments, he speaks 
his own mother tongue with a strong New England 
accent of the vowels, and knows nothing of any other. 
Add to all this that, after an acquaintance with him of 
nearly two months, and the opportunity of seeing him 
every day, almost every hour of the time, he gives me the 
impression of being, at least, at the present time, a man 
of pure mind and heart, tender and truthful, giving to 
the poor every spare dollar he earns, frank and open to 
all, having no vices, disguises, concealments, or pride, 
hardly ever casting even a glance at the busy world that 
lies beyond his native hills, and it must be conceded that 
we have before our camera the unlikeliest of all men to 
take rank among the great impostors of history. I pray 
the reader not to fancy I am sketching a perfect man — 
I mean, one whom we would turn to for comfort and com- 
panionship in life. His very temperament unfits him for 
general acquaintance. His childhood was one of injus- 
tice, oppression, and cruel treatment from his natural 
protector — from the father, who is usually to his child the 
ideal of justice and benevolence, the earthly embodiment 
of the Divine wisdom and patience. Where other boys 
receive constant tokens of affection and indulgence, he 
got blows, revilings, and bitter denunciations. His 



A GARDEN OF BITTER FRUITS. 159 

mystic endowments, instead of proving a blessing, brought 
only misery in their train ; and the poor lad, who loved 
his mother with the warmth of a girl's heart, was forced 
to see her subjected to the same outrageous rudeness as 
he received himself. Then this father of his, showing 
the innate meanness of his petty soul, made traffic of the 
very constitutional peculiarities that he had striven so 
hard to flog out of his children, and sent this boy and his 
brothers and sisters out with a traveling showman, to be 
robbed and shot at and ridden on rails ; half-starved, ill- 
clothed, denounced as impostors, tortured by skeptical 
committees, and by inconsiderate Spiritualists, overdoing 
precaution in a desire to inspire confidence in what 
might be manifested in presence of the young. 

Fancy a child enduring all this, finding enemies 
instead of friends at every step, knowing not whither to 
turn for sympathy except to the world of spirits, and to 
that most loving and sacred of all friends, his mother, 
and who can expect to find the man of thirty affable, 
cool, unimpressible, equable, suave, and accessible like 
other men? He suffers from his enforced seclusiveness 
all the while, but it cannot be helped. Many hearts 
warm towards him, and would show their tenderness, but 
they come twenty years too late. The seeds of distrust 
were planted in boyhood, Avatered with tears, grafted 
with sorrow, and the garden is choked with bitter fruits. 
He has turned from man to the animal kingdom for com- 
panionship, and surrounds himself with pets, which, at 
least, he thinks, do not repay his care with deceit. 

" The poor too often turn away unheard 

From hearts that shut against them with a sound 

That will be heard in Heaven." 



l6o 7 HE CABINET EXAMINED. 

— as he turns away from a society that gave him the 
cold shoulder, and threw him back upon himself. Poor 
fellow ! if any envy his mediumship, let them come and 
see what it has done for him, and what theirs has done 
for his brothers and sisters. 

Now to return to the cabinet. The sketch, as I said, 
represents William as he appears when about to enter 
the dark closet, from which I have seen emerge so 
many, many different figures. Several times I have 
stayed with him in the kitchen until after the circle was 
formed up-stairs, and he was called to come. We 
would sit chatting upon any indifferent subject, smok- 
ing our pipes, and he making no sort of preparation, 
either in dress or anything else, for the seance. Then 
I have stepped into the cabinet, and seen that there was 
nothing there but the bare floor and walls, the chair 
and the cap and powder-horn that a visitor recently 
presented to Honto and Santum respectively, and that 
they sometimes, but not often, wear. 

The night of my arrival, the voice of the spirit, Mrs. 
Eaton, called me to bring a light and see the condition 
of the medium, the instant that the last shape retired 
behind the curtain. I found everything as usual in the 
cabinet — no costumes scattered around, no signs of 
dressing having been going on. The window was 
closed against the admission of light, by a small black 
shawl and a piece of horse-blanket held against the 
panes by a bar of wood, cut to fit inside the frame. 
The last forms that had shown themselves were those 
of the two Lenzberg children, clad in white, but, 
although not more than thirty seconds had elapsed, no 




THE SLEEPING MEDIUM. 



FOUR HUNDRED SPIRITS. 163 

white drapery was to be seen. The medium was in a 
deep sleep, his features relaxed, his breathing almost 
imperceptible, his skin free from moisture, and every 
indication presented, of profound obliviousness to exter- 
nal things. The glare of the lamp and the noise of 
my footsteps, did not awaken him, but, when I shook 
him and called him by name, he opened his eyes and 
regarded me with the startled look of one suddenly 
aroused from slumber and seeing something unexpected 
at his bed-side. 

I have often seen persons come out of both the natu- 
ral and cataleptic sleep, and unhesitatingly affirm that 
this man was neither counterfeiting nor in an ordinary 
state of somnolence. I am fortunately able to convey 
an idea of how he looked, by reproducing a photograph 
taken one day when he visited a gallery to secure a 
likeness for a friend. He had no idea of anything hap- 
pening out of the usual order, but hardly took his seat 
before he was entranced, and the photographer com- 
pleted the picture as it is. It was secretly loaned to 
me, and William will first be apprised of the fact, by 
seeing it in connection with this chapter. 

I have seen, say, three or four hundred different 
materialized spirits, or what purported to be such, and 
in every imaginable variety of costume. I have seen 
them of all sizes and shapes, of both sexes and all ages. 
I say seen them, because that is just what I mean. 
True, the light has been dim — very dim — and I have 
not been able to recognize the features of a single face. 
I could not even swear to the lineaments of certain of 
my own personal friends who presented themselves. 



1 64 ONE EVENING INSUFFICIENT. 

But, for all that, practice has so trained my facul- 
ties that I am able to distinguish the salient points of 
difference between the figures. I have no trouble, for 
instance, in recognizing the aged from the young, the 
dark from the light or white-haired, European from 
Indian, Asiatic and African dresses, marked contrasts in 
Stature and bulk, and especially whites from negroes. 
So, while my testimony is worth nothing as regards 
identity of faces, it is perfectly competent as to the fact 
that a multitude of apparitions, totally different from 
the medium, have been presented for my inspection. 
What go to constitute a likeness, are a number of lines 
about the eyes, nose and mouth, as thin as a knife- 
blade's edge, the expression of eye, shape of features, 
color and hair. These in such a light as this, are indis- 
tinguishable, but, when a figure stands against a white 
wall, the various parts composing it, and its costume, 
are readily discerned by the trained eye. Moreover, 
the peculiarities in appearance have been distinct 
enough for our artist to present the reader with such 
excellent sketches of a number of the most familiar 
spirits, that they will be recognized by hundreds of 
visitors at the old farm-house. 

In my Sun letter of September 5th, I warned the 
public against going to Chittenden for a single even- 
ing, with the idea that they would be satisfied with' 
what they saw. It is simply absurd to expect it, for the 
light is so poor that one cannot, with untrained eye, 
distinguish accurately between forms varying as much 
as six inches in height. One gentleman who came with 
me, and another of scientific reputation, echoed my own 




MATERIALIZED SPIRITS. 



A BOGUS INVESTIGATOR. 167 

suspicion, that Honto was exactly like William Eddy- 
in height and breadth of shoulders ; whereas I, who 
have now seen her nearly thirty times, and had her 
measure heights with living persons present, and back 
up against my painted scale of feet and inches, posi- 
tively know that she is just 5 feet 3 inches, while Wil- 
liam Eddy is 5 feet 9 inches. As to breadth of shoulder, 
depth of chest, and apparent weight, there is no resem- 
blance between them. 

As an instance of the cavalier treatment that this sub- 
ject of Spiritualism, commonly receives at the hands of 
the scientific and pseudo-scientific class, I may mention 
the fact that one of the latter kind, who recently visited 
the Eddy Homestead, and departed after attending a 
single seance, fixed in his pre-conceived opinion that 
the whole affair was a deception, is engaged in the 
attempt to solve a certain medical problem, not of 
primary importance, and has devoted years of time, and 
collected returns from hundreds of correspondents, in 
all parts of the country, before he has felt competent 
to express an opinion ; and yet, when it comes to the 
grandest problem of the age, and all ages — whether 
we have immortal souls or die the death of dogs — he 
needs only sixty minutes of observation of the most 
startling phenomena the world ever saw, to " satisfy the 
scientific world," that he has simply witnessed a series 
of personations by an uneducated farmer, "with the 
help of three dollars' worth of costumes ! " 

The reader will not require to be reminded that I 
have never expressed myself as satisfied with my own 
investigations; but, on the contrary, have always 
6* 



1 68 A TOY THUNDERBOLT. 

deplored the impossibility of making my experiments 
under test conditions. And yet I have seen hundreds 
of " spirits " whose appearance I cannot account for, 
and which cannot be explained upon the theory of con- 
federacy, or, in my judgment, personation. I submit, 
therefore, that if, after such an experience as this, I 
confess the question to be still open, it becomes less 
patient observers, to be modest enough not to give us 
ex-cathedra opinions, after such a farcical investigation 
as that of the person in question. 

During one of our wars we had a numerous class of 
patriots, who, while attending to their engrossing private 
affairs, held themselves in readiness to exchange plow- 
share for sword, and take the field at the first alarm of 
danger. They were known as "Minute Men." For the 
first time in my acquaintance with science, I have met 
one of its self-styled votaries ready to investigate and 
decide upon one of the greatest of topics after an hour's 
examination. He should be forever known as Perpetual 
President of the Society of Sixty-Minute Philosophers ! 
He left Chittenden, breathing threatenings and slaughter. 
Since then we have had his " expose " but the world still 
moves on as though the thunderbolt had not fallen, and 
he and it will rot and pass out of mind, and a score 
more of like pretentious expositors arise, have their brief 
hour, and be lost to view, while the phenomena will con- 
tinue to bedevil the wits of the scientific world, until 
some Columbus shall arise among them to lead the way 
over the mysterious sea, beyond which the Truth lies 
hidden. 



CHAPTER XII. 

IS IT AN OCCULT FORCE? 

HAVING tried to make it appear reasonably cer- 
tain that the forms seen on the platform in the 
circle-room are not character-personations by 
William H. Eddy, I am prepared to consider the only 
remaining alternative— that they imply the manifestation 
of some occult force, either spontaneously generated or 
under the control of intelligence. Here we have plain 
sailing, for, as students of science, we ought to find no 
difficulty in grappling with a subject which submits itself 
to analysis as freely as any other within the reach of our 
faculties. I see no more reason why we should not be 
able to trace the phenomena of modern Spiritualism back 
to their source, than those of heat, light, motion, electricity 
or chemical action, if we only use the same patience and 
resort to like tests. 

We should take nothing for granted, and respect no 
man's judgment who does. We should demand from t 
the Spiritualists as broad a basis of facts for our belief as 
we do from Huxley before receiving his theory, or from 
Tyndall if he would have us accept any of the dogmas 

169 



1 70 INVESTIGA TION DEMANDED. 

propounded in his Belfast address. A philosophy that 
shrinks from crucial tests I want none of. No real inves- 
tigator takes things on faith. We should flout at and 
cease debate with the Spiritualist who assumes to set his 
creed above all other creeds as too sacred to be tried and 
tested by every appliance of reason and science. The 
individual preferences or fears of mediums are nothing 
to us, for we are in quest of the truth, and would seek it 
even at the bottom of a well. We should weigh the 
mediums and their phenomena in the balances, and 
reject whatsoever appears false. In this spirit, which is 
the very essence of all scientific inquiry, I have tried, as 
far as lay within my power, to grope my way among these 
Eddy apparitions, and think the ground grows firm 
beneath my feet. I know that I am only the guide 
carrying the torch, and that the master. spirits are to come 
after me; but at least I have traversed the country and 
tried to observe the path so carefully as not to lead my 
betters into the bog at either side. 

Now, that a fair understanding may be established 
between my reader and myself before I state any more 
things that I have seen, let us consider this question of 
the materialized spirits being the product of an undis- 
covered force. The dogma of Tyndall has not yet been 
demonstrated, either by him or any other man of science. 
The word " demonstrate " is used advisedly ; for, while 
it is true that the very recent experiments of Dr. Bastian, 
F. R. S., in England, and of Dr. Timothy Lewis, in 
India, seem to indicate that the thermal death-point 
of living matter has been finally ascertained, and that 
the flask experiments of the former gentleman, based 



SPONTANEO US GENERA TION. 1 7 1 

upon this hypothesis, make it probable that the sponta- 
neous generation of Bacteria germs has been observed, 
yet the majority of scientists agree with Dr. Jeffreys- 
Wyman in the opinion that the question is still in doubt. 

Unless, therefore, we are ready to concede that Bastian 
has settled the point in dispute, we may safely say 
that all the efforts of the most learned philosophers of 
France and Great Britain, have hitherto failed to show 
spontaneous generation, under conditions which abso- 
lutely excluded the admission of germs from the atmos- 
phere. The experiments already made may ultimately 
lead to this result, but they have not as yet ; and even if 
the indestructibility and convertibility of force were 
proven, the experimenters would still have to account for 
that something behind, that " dynamic, unseen agency," 
of which it is only the exponent, and which evolves 
and directs the force towards its multiform manifestations. 

Alas ! when they have wrested from space the secret 
laws under which matter accretes and forms itself into 
systems and worlds, and by which the myriad types of 
vegetable and animal life are evolved, the mind will 
return weary from its search after the Infinite Power that 
established those laws and holds them to their appointed 
work. 

Well, then, if the English and French chemists, with 
unlimited control of the best apparatus, and every other 
help, have not evolved so much as microscopic animal 
life, independent of germs admitted from the atmosphere, 
is any one so audacious as to say, that these Vermont 
farmers, without a penny's worth of mechanical or 
chemical appliances, have gained such mastery over the 



1 7 2 THE A UTOMA TIC THEOR V. 

imponderable fluids of the air, that at their pleasure, palpa- 
ble human forms can be evoked, to cheat the senses into 
the belief that they are endowed with life? Can any one 
dare to maintain that to such evanescent, self-generated 
forms, these conjurors can impart the faculties of hearing, 
speech, and sight? Can make them walk like human 
beings, breathe, sing, convey ideas, and sustain con- 
versations in divers foreign tongues ? To walk may be 
automatic, as Doctor Carpenter attempted to show, in his 
pamphlet on the unconscious action of the human brain, 
and, if the spontaneous generation of the Eddy ghosts 
were conceded, it might be as easy to allow them the 
capability of mere motion ; but to walk to a given point, 
by request, or to do any other suggested thing, is not 
automatic, but the evidence of motion guided by intelli- 
gence. 

When, therefore, these apparitions have, at my demand, 
moved to the right or left, or stepped forward, or taken 
hold of some object, or assumed certain attitudes, or 
otherwise shown that they were capable of not only hear- 
ing my voice, consenting to my request, and doing the 
desired thing, but also were as able to control their 
individual movements, by the power of their individual 
will, as I myself, I saw that all theories of automatous 
action must be abandoned, and the problem re-cast. In 
such case I have to deal with sentient beings, and it 
crowds me nearer and nearer to the verge, where I must 
either surrender or leap. 

If we have not to deal with a question of spontaneous 
generation, are these apparitions the result of some occult 



PSYCHOLOGY AND MIND-READING. 173 

force, set in motion by any human will ? In other words, 
has the " medium," William H. Eddy, such power over 
it, that he can cheat mothers into the belief that they see 
their children, children their parents, brothers sisters, 
friends friends? And are the apparitions subjective or 
objective? Let us see. If he "psychologizes " any par- 
ticular one of his audience, he does all, for all see the 
same forms, hear them speak the same words, and -witness 
them doing the same actions. If they are not phantoms 
of the mind, but temporarily solid and substantial shapes, 
created by the medium's will, out of the invisible mole- 
cules floating in the air, what does that imply ? Simply 
that William can not only read our thoughts, but see the 
pictures of our deceased friends, as they are impressed on 
our memory, and conjure up shapes that duplicate them in 
dress, appearance, manners, and conversation : that this 
uneducated man can at will speak any language he 
chooses, recall family names, observe secret actions so as 
to refer to them, and without time for preparation, delude 
visitors arrived just before the hour of assembly, with 
the spectres of those nearest and dearest to them. 

Is not this absurd ? To believe such nonsense is far 
more difficult than to yield at discretion, and acknowledge 
that perhaps the spirit world may be a fact after all. 
What hard climbing this is to reach the peak from which 
the mind's eye may take in the whole plain of Truth at a 
glance ! If we could only swallow the spiritualistic pill 
at a gulp, how much trouble we might be spared. For 
their explanation is so easy; every single phase of these 
phenomena is so transparently simple, so in accordance 
with law — an occult and as yet undiscovered law, it is 



174 THE IMPORTANCE OF INVESTIGATION. 

true, but still law and not chance — that one " finds 
peace in believing." 

A clergyman asks me if the world would not demand 
that the Spiritualists should show something of practical 
benefit brought about by the spirits — something that 
would add to the world's wealth. I referred him to the 
position he took every Sunday of his life, when he asked : 
" If a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul, 
what profiteth him ? " and put it to him as a clergyman, 
if the proving of immortal existence were not the most 
priceless blessing that could be conferred upon the world 
by these modern wonder-workers. He had not regarded 
the matter from that side. 

I am glad to receive a reinforcement of my appeal 
for scientific investigation of these so-called spiritual 
phenomena from a most unexpected quarter. Long 
after this chapter, as originally written, appeared in the 
Daily Graphic, the Scientific American, a conservative 
journal, uses the following language : 

" In the first place, then, we can find no words wherewith to ade- 
quately express our sense of the magnitude of its importance to 
Science, if it be true. Such words as profound, vast, stupendous, 
would need to be strengthened a thousand-fold to be fitted for such 
a use. If true, it will become the one grand event of the world's 
history ; it will give an imperishable lustre of glory to the Nineteenth 
Century. Its discoverer will have no rival in renown, and his name 
will be written high above any other. For spiritualism involves a 
stultification of what are considered the most certain and fundamen- 
tal conclusions of Science. It denies the conservation of matter and 
force ; it demands a reconstruction of our chemistry and physics, 
and even our mathematics. It professes to create matter and force 
out of nothing, and to annihilate them when created. If the pre- 
tensions of spiritualism have a rational foundation, no more import- 
ant work has been offered to men of Science than their verification. 
A realization of the dreams of the elixir vita, the philosopher's 



THE FUTURE FAME OF MR. CROOKES. 175 

Stone, and the perpetual motion, is of less importance to mankind 
than the verification of spiritualism. 

But some may say that we exaggerate the pretensions of spiritual- 
ism, and that spiritualists, in the ratio of their intelligence, make 
claims which are modest and moderate ; and perhaps the average 
man says that, although a great part of spiritualism is deception and 
imposture, yet there is something about it which is new and true. 
To such we say that if there is any truth in it, of interest to science, 
however small, it is worth while to seek for it with great diligence 
and labor ; its discovery will surely bring an abundant reward. If 
we positively knew that there was contained in spiritualism a scin- 
tilla of new fact about matter, though it were as the needle in all 
the hay stacks, or as the grain in all the sands of the sea, we would 
not discourage the ambitious man of science in his search for it. 

Mr. Crookes, as the discoverer of thallium, has achieved a great 
eminence in science, and he is now nobly employing his talent in 
the investigation of spiritualism, if he find in it, positively, some- 
thing new to science. He does not need to be told that, if he really 
discovers his psychic force, or any other unknown force, capable of 
acting on matter, all the future ages will name him with Galvani and 
Newton. Finally, say we emphatically, if there be truth in spirit- 
ualism, in whole or in any part, let it be investigated. But concern- 
ing such investigations, in view of very serious harm which hereto- 
fore has often been caused by shallow and superficial dallyings with 
the subject, we thoughtfully and solemnly advise that no investiga- 
tion is worthy of the name unless it is inspired by the passionless 
common sense of science. Also, remember this : The evidence 
required to establish a fact, is proportioned to the improbability of 
the fact." 

In the farther discussion of his theme, the Editor 
commends to the consideration of Mr. Crookes and 
myself, respectively, resort to force to solve the materi- 
alization problem ; but I agree with that eminent Eng- 
lishman, that it is better to avoid resort to such unsci- 
entific methods as long as possible. 

So here we are at length : Confederacy, disproven ; 
personation, discredited ; spontaneous generation of 
the apparitions, impossible ; mind-reading by the 
medium, followed by his creation of the shades of our 



176 MANY QUESTIONS. 

deceased friends, absurd. Result: A possibility that, 
by some occult control over now unknown forces of 
nature, beings, other than those in the body can mani- 
fest their presence to sight, touch, and hearing. If 
beings, what beings ? Those they purport to be, or the 
simulacra of such, formed and fashioned by tricky 
creatures, who are suffered to trifle with the sacredest 
feelings of our hearts ? If spirits, those of persons who 
have lived on this earth ? — or those from other planets, 
where the same relations as ours of body and mind, the 
same laws of life and death, do not prevail ? Who and 
whence are they ? Are they all evil, all good, or partly 
both ? Is there a limit to their power to interfere in 
the affairs of men ; and, especially, to control those 
sensitives we call mediums ? Do the things they do 
and the things they teach, indicate that the law of evo- 
lution follows us beyond the grave, and we may rise to 
grand heights of light and wisdom ? — or must we shun 
them as the angels of hell itself, let loose to ruin us in 
body and soul ? That is the issue. That is where we 
stand ; and now the reader is prepared to let me take 
him by the hand through this maze, and with me, "try 
the spirits, if they be of God." 

The illustration represents what happened on the 
first evening of my visit, after William's materialization 
seance closed. It shows some of the visible manifesta- 
tions at Horatio G. Eddy's light-circles. Thousands 
who have attended the public exhibitions of the Daven- 
ports and other traveling mediums, will recognize them 
as familiar. I was chosen as one of the committee, on 
the evening when the Davenports first appeared in the 



A LIGHT CIRCLE. 1 79 

Cooper Institute, several years ago, and saw five hands 
simultaneously thrust out of the aperture in the cab- 
inet-door, and, grasping one, had my hand squeezed so 
that I felt the bruise for hours. Instead of using a 
wooden box, Horatio Eddy hangs two shawls upon the 
line that stretches from the chimney in the circle-room 
to the south wall ; leaving an open space between it 
and the ceiling of about two feet. 

The one next the chimney, and behind Horatio's 
chair, is a short one, and does not reach the floor by 
nearly three feet ; and therefore, if it were possible for 
him to execute tricks behind the other curtain, without 
betraying himself by movements of his head, feet, 
shoulders and body, or the disturbance of the shawl, he 
would be favorably placed to do so. I have watched 
him closely, and have never detected any such indica- 
tions of fraud. Besides, it will appear in the course of 
my narrative that, even if he had had both hands free 
to do what he chose, he could not have done any one 
of several things that I will recount. 

The shawls merely form a screen, behind which it 
must be almost as light as in front, by reason of the 
open space between the cord and ceiling. A table is 
pushed into the corner, and on it are laid the follow- 
ing : One guitar, one concertina, seven bells of various 
sizes, two tambourines, eight harmonicons (mostly dis- 
abled), one flute, one piccolo, one flageolet, one tin 
ditto, and one triangle. Horatio sits on a chair in front 
of the curtain, to the left, next to him some gentleman 
selected from the audience, and at the right of the latter 
a lady similarly chosen. I give these positions as they 



i So THE BAB Y-I1AND. 

are upon the platform. To the audience they would 
appear reversed, Horatio being at the right and the 
lady at the left. William Eddy then pins across the 
breasts of the two males a third shawl, attaching the 
ends to the curtain. A bright light is thrown upon 
the group from a kerosene lamp placed near and turned 
up high. 

Presently there is a commotion among the articles on 
the table, and loud knocks resound. The bells ring, 
various instruments are displayed above the curtain ; 
the guitar is played upon near the ceiling, beneath the 
sitters' chairs, between the chimney side and Horatio's 
chair to the left, flat against the south wall, beyond the 
lady sitter to the right, and elsewhere ; a familiar air is 
played in concert by a number of instruments ; bells 
are rung singly and in harmony together, and hands of 
various sizes and tints dart into sight through the aper- 
ture in the curtain, or show themselves above the cord. 

On the occasion referred to, the gentleman sitting 
next to Horatio was requested, after a while, to give 
place to a lady, who, when she had taken her seat and 
the shawl was re-adjusted, was caressed by a child's 
hand, a tiny little thing, that might have belonged to a 
girl of two or three years. It patted her cheek, was 
held at the lips to be kissed, laid upon her head, 
smoothed her hair, and when her eyes filled with tears, 
wiped them away and renewed its caresses. The artist 
has shown me, standing far in advance of the rest of 
the circle, where it will be noticed I had unobstructed 
view of all that transpired; but when this little hand 
was thrust from another world to cheer and encourage 



CON TRA ST OF II A ND S. 



I8l 



the mother, whose bosom it had so often clasped in life, 
I had drawn close up in front, and saw the very dimples 
on it. 1 am, therefore, entirely able and ready to affirm 
that, even if the medium were an impostor, and had 
wished to deceive his sitters with a clever juggle, he did 
not then nor could not, for he could not transform his 
long, brown, bony, sinewy hand, and his wrist, muti- 
lated by the cruel tying of many " committees," into 
the size, color, and shape of the baby-hand that was 
materialized before my eyes. 

Let the reader judge. Here we have front and back 




views of Horatio's right hand, and a view of the baby 
hand that I have referred to. The peculiar mutilation 
of his wrist by the compression of the small bones of 
the wrist by ligatures when they were soft, will be 
observed, as well as the long, slim, almost claw-like 



1 82 STRANGE BUT TRUE. 

fingers. Observe also, by reference to the large pic- 
ture, that, as Horatio sits at the extreme left of the 
three, he could only use his right hand for juggling, 
whereas the child-hand is a left one. 

It has been doubted, by certain persons who have 
written to the newspapers, that more than one hand is 
shown at once in these light circles, but aside from my 
own observations, which prove the contrary, here we 
have the certificate of a clergyman of Albany : 

Chittenden, Oct. 29th, 1874. 

This is to certify that at a light circle which I attended last even- 
ing at the Eddy homestead, I distinctly saw three spirit-hands dis- 
played at one time ; of which, one was that of a lady, a long, slim 
hand as white as marble ; a second, the great hand of a man with 
the entire little finger of the right hand missing ; the third, another 
man's hand, very white. HENRY J. CLINKER. 

28 Hawk St., Albany, N. Y. 

A call was soon made for writing materials, and a 
succession of spirit-hands clutching the pen that Wil- 
liam offered them, and using my note-book as a tablet, 
wrote names on cards and threw them towards the 
audience. Some were names of the dead, some of the 
living ; none, I am satisfied, familiar to the medium. 

The performances of the evening concluded, at the 
request of a visitor, with a series of imitations of the 
boring, sawing, and splitting of wood, the filing of iron, 
and the pumping of water, the sounds occurring behind 
the curtain, and all being so true to nature as to evoke 
great applause. 

During the entire sitting, as during each of like char- 
acter, Horatio's two hands are supposed to have clasped 
the bared left arm of the person next him ; his eyes 
were closed, and, as I said before, there was neither 



IV II ESC E CAME THE POWER? I S3 

rustle of the curtain, nor movement of his feet, body, 
or shoulders. For all the attention he apparently gave 
to what was going on he might have been in a stupor, 
or enjoying a nap after a full meal. 

Now, this experience offers, perhaps, as favorable an 
opportunity as any for the application of the theory, 
that no reliance should be placed upon the evidence of 
the senses. I either saw the baby-hand, and other 
larger ones, not the medium's, heard the co-incidental 
playing upon several instruments, and saw the guitar 
played upon, not only beyond the reach of Horatio's 
arm, but also flat against the south wall, in a position 
where he could not possibly hold, much less play upon 
it ; or I did not. 

If not, who psychologized my senses, and made me 
fancy all these things ? Not Horatio, for stronger wills 
than his have vainly attempted to " magnetize " me, 
and he could not do it, if he tried ever so long. Who 
then ? Nobody else in the flesh, for no one else had 
the slightest interest in the success of his circle; Wil- 
liam and he never interfering with each other. Shall 
we say, then, some self-directed, vagrant force, allying 
itself with this medium ? Or, as a last extremity, shall 
we say a spirit or spirits out of the body, and " let it go 
at that ?" 



CHAPTER XIII. x 

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SCIENTISTS. 

I SCARCELY ever sit down to write a chapter of this 
story of my experience among the Chittenden ghosts 
without feeling the similarity between my mental state 
and that of one who threads his way through a strange 
forest by night. At one moment the traveler catches a 
glimpse of the path under some opening where the star- 
light comes down, and anon, lost in obscurity he runs 
against an obstacle that must be surmounted or skirted ; 
his senses are kept constantly on the alert for foes of one 
kind or another, his eyes strained for pitfalls; a vague 
sense of danger besets him ; but through all, his .courage 
is sustained by the hope of getting safely out of the woods, 
and obtaining that security and repose which shall 
reward him for all the difficulties of the journey. I am con- 
tinually oppressed with a consciousness of the possibility 
of deception by the truant senses, to the misleading of 
many good people who are obliged to depend upon their 
vigilance for the formation of their own opinions. It is 
not that I mistrust these mediums more than all mediums, 

but because, being obliged, so to say, to do my work at 

184 



MEDIUMS NOT RESPONSIBLE. 185 

arm's length in consequence of their peculiar disposition, 
I am kept forever on the watch. 

How vast a pity it is that this matter of the intercourse 
between the two worlds is so tainted with falsehood as 
to make such vigilance necessary ; that the observation 
of its phenomena is so much in the hands of ignorant, 
dishonest, and even dissolute people ; that the most 
atrocious fraud is often practised upon honest investiga- 
tors, and that the sacredest feelings of the heart are 
trifled with for gain i But the responsibility for all this 
is easily placed. It lies at the door of those men of 
science who could discover to us _the fundamental law 
upon which these things rest, if they would, but do not ; 
so turning us over to charlatans and enthusiasts to be 
deceived and misled until our own dearly bought experi- 
ence teaches us, and shames them into tardy action. If 
it is true that most mediums will cheat, when their real 
power temporarily leaves them, as it is, that only makes it 
all the more necessary that competent investigators 
should set to work without loss of time to discover the 
rule by which we might know the false from the true 
phenomena. 

The pusillanimity of the men of the laboratory has 
been as great as the blind violence of the clergy. The 
one have not dared to pursue investigations that might 
bring upon them the censure of an ignorant public ; the 
other have denounced as devilish, if not trivial, a series 
of phenomena that, if true, will soon be the last refuge 
of the church from the destructive engineering of the 
sappers of science. If both had joined forces twenty- 
seven years ago in a patient and thorough investigation 



1 8 6 ST A G AND HO UNDS. 

of these " spiritual " phenomena, the law of their mani- 
festation would have been long ago discovered, and the 
public would have been spared, at least the major part 
of the swindles and trickery by which mediums have 
defrauded it. Professor Robert Hare, the discoverer of 
the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, and one of the most 
eminent chemists of his day, whose name I have already 
mentioned in this work, recognized the duty devolving 
upon him, and spent some years in an investigation of 
Spiritualism. The result was his conversion to the 
belief. His colleagues, instead of applauding his course 
and awarding him the credit he deserved, set to calling 
him an imbecile, and, like a pack of hounds in full cry, 
ran together after the noble quarry, with a scent breast- 
high. 

This is what they are doing now to Wallace, Crookes, 
Varley, and the Continental philosophers. This is what 
their prototypes did to Columbus, Galileo, Harvey, 
Watt, Faust, and every other man who, being of giant 
character, could, so to speak, look over the heads of the 
crowd, and make them feel their own littleness. Mean 
envy begets spite, and spite malice, and malice cruelty. 
Until, then, the scientists give a full and fair investigation 
to this subject, and proclaim in an authoritative manner 
the truth, we need spend no time in denouncing mediums 
for charlatanry. We might as justly censure the people 
of a row of tenement-houses for piling the street full of 
garbage, while a competent Board of Health was in 
existence, but neglecting its duty. 

It has been observed by frequenters of these " circles " 
that the appearance and behavior of Honto are good 



A SOCIAL DANCE. 187 

indications of the general character of the manifestations 
for the evening ; if she is active, the seance will be a 
good one ; if not, the reverse. The plain deduction from 
this is, of course, that she and the other spirits are alike 
subject to the same laws governing the occurrence of 
the phenomena ; and not as some devout Spiritualists 
suppose, that her condition reflects upon that of her 
fellows by a mysterious exercise of her will upon their 
power of materialization. 

On the second evening of my visit Honto was the 
first spirit to appear, and she remained in sight nearly fifteen 
minutes. Mrs. Cleveland and Mr. Pritchard occupied 
their usual chairs at either end of the platform, and 
Honto danced with the former in a lively manner, balanc- 
ing, advancing, crossing over, and turning the old lady 
as though the whole delight of her soul were in the 
figures of the dance. She would sway first to one side 
and then the other, raise her hands above her head, bend 
backwards until her spine was nearly doubled upon 
itself, like a carpenter's rule, and fling herself about in an 
exuberance of childish glee. Leaving her partner, she 
then passed to the other end of the stage, always keep- 
ing step to the music, and balanced to Mr. Pritchard, 
who, being partially paralyzed, could only take her 
hands in his, and humor her fancy by waving them from 
side to side and up and down, as her light feet rose and 
fell. The spirit-girl held her face close to each of theirs, 
that they might scan her features, and making Mrs. 
Cleveland turn about, she stood back against back with 
her to show us her height. The living woman measures 
just five feet seven inches, and Honto, holding herself erect, 



1 88 A PATHETIC SCENE. 

was about half a head shorter. The skirt of her dress 
to-night reached but little below her knees, so that I easily 
assured myself that she was no man making himself short 
by bending his legs. 

The apparition of a youngish woman holding a baby 
in her arms followed immediately after Honto's retire- 
ment, and caused an exhibition of tender pathos. In 
the semi-darkness of the room it is, as I have said before, 
generally but not always the case, that persons cannot 
recognize the spirits until attention has been specially 
drawn to them, when their individuality is settled by the 
general appearance of their form, weight, and motions, 
in case no words are spoken by them to their questioning 
friends. In this case the usual query, " Is it for me ? " 
was running along the line, when a woman's voice 
exclaimed in an agonizing tone, " Is that my baby ? Is it 

my ; is it Charlie ? " The spirit-woman nodded 

and smiled and held the baby forward for recognition. 
There was a sob, a wail, an outburst of maternal tender- 
ness : " My darling ! My angel ! " — and the poor mother 
could say no more, for sobs choked her utterance. 

This scene was followed by another of like character. 
A German Jewess of nervous temperament sat beside 
me on the front bench. The curtain was pushed aside, 
and there in the cabinet's door stood her daughter of 
twelve years, in a white gown, and with her black hair 
brushed back from her temples. The mother, overcome 
with joy, poured forth a volley of questions in German, 
intermingled with ejaculations, which the happy child 
tried to answer by rapping assent or dissent with her 
knuckles upon the door-post, and disappeared as her 




WELL-KNOWN SPIRIT-FORMS. 



A SCALE OF HEIGHTS. 191 

mother was ready to fall into a swoon from excess of 
emotion. 

Ten spirits in all showed themselves, viz.: Honto; 

Mrs. Carpenter, an elderly lady; Abby ; the lady 

and infant ; two children ; a German, named Abraham 
Alsbach, who spoke German to his sister ; a young lady 
with long blonde hair, who wore a white dress with 
low neck and short sleeves and a flowing train — a very 
pretty spirit ; and an aged lady, the grandmother of a 
person present. 

On the next evening the shapes of seven Indians and 
five whites were seen, and a majority of them were so 
obliging as to back up to the wall and allow themselves 
to be measured. In the hopes of aiding my judgment 
as to the relative heights of the medium and the sev- 
eral spirits, I caused two strips of white muslin to be 
painted in feet and inches, and tacked them on the 
wall at either side of the cabinet door. This would 
enable the eye to note where the head of each appari- 
tion reached at the moment the spirit stepped over the 
threshold. The painter, however, made the mistake 
of painting the figures about a third too small, and, 
therefore, while with the fair light we had the first 
evening the scale was used I could see heights to with- 
in a couple of inches, I had to rely upon Mr. Pritchard 
to call off the exact figures. One most important result 
was, at any rate, attained in settling beyond question 
the fact that figures, able to stand alone and walk, were 
seen, whose heights varied from 2 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 
2 3-4 inches. Of these extremes, one was Santum, the 
Winnebago spirit, and the other a little white child, 



192 



A TIME-TABLE. 



who leaned against the right-hand door-post. I timed 
the intervals between the appearance of four of the 
apparitions, and found them as follows: 



From departure of 
spirit of 



Santum — Sex, male; height, 
6 feet 2 3-4 inches ; dress, 
Indian, ornamented with 
stripes of embroidery and 
fringe of buckskin ; com 
plexion, dark copper.. . . 



B- 



R- 



Mrs. R- 



Swift Cloud. 



To arrival of 
spirit of 



B — R . Sex, male ; 

complexion, white; hair, 
light ; age, fourteen ; 
height, 4 feet 9 inches ; 
dress, European (jacket 
and trousers dark, white 
shirt, black tie) 

Old Mrs. R , mother 

of lady present — Sex, 
female ; complexion, 
light ; hair, white ; age, 
about sixty; dress, Euro 
pean 

" Swift Cloud " — Sex, 
male ; complexion, cop 
per; hair, black; height, 
5 feet 10 inches ; dress, 
Indian (blue jacket with 
fringed sleeves, brown 
or gray hunting-shirt, 
worn outside, leggings 
fringed, and feather in 
hair) 

A child — Sex, male ; age, 
six ; height, — ; dress, 
European 



Interval of 
tune. 



M. S. 



45 



50 



35 



30 



This was a Saturday night, and according to rule no 
circle was held the following evening, but an event of 
serious import to at least one person occurred which is 
worth recounting. The house being crowded with 
visitors, William Eddy had for a bed-fellow a Mr. Car- 
penter, of Malone, New York, a gentleman who 
impressed me as a person of candor and intelligence, 
and who has enjoyed the advantage of much general 
travel, as well as a voyage around the world. William 
had shaved off his moustache during the hot weather, 



THE MALICIOUS BARBER. 193 

but was now allowing it to grow, and it had attained a 
length of perhaps half an inch. On Sunday night the 
two retired and lay awake talking, when Mr. Carpen- 
ter was afforded a first-class sensation, which I prefer 
him to describe in his own fashion : 

Chittenden, Vt., Sept. 21st, 1S74. 
Mr. Okott, 

Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, I repeat the events 
of last night, as follows: 1 

After retiring to bed as usual, with William Eddy, we lay talking 
for some time, when he suddenly became silent. A shiver or slight 
convulsion seemed to run through his body, and I heard a voice say : 
" Now I 've got you just where I want you." I asked : " Whom do 
you mean ; do you mean me ? " The voice replied, " No ; Mr. Eddy." 
I then asked: "Who is it? Is it Mr. Morse?" The voice replied, 
" No, it's Asa Perkins." Addressing William apparently, the voice 
continued : " I'll learn you not to keep me around here all day and 
not let me come. I'll put a mark on you so you'll know me when I 
want to come again." I then heard the scraping of a razor, and the 
voice said : " There, I've put a mark on you, so I guess you'll know 
me when I want to come again." I asked the kind of a mark he 
had put on William. The voice said: "I've cut one side of his 
moustache off ; you just feel." I felt his lip, and sure enough, one 
side of his moustache was gone. 

The spirit then left and William came to himself again. The 
voice had told me not to tell William what had been done, so I said 
nothing. 

In the morning William discovered the trick when he looked in 
the glass, and was so angry that he declared he would go at once to 
New York and take the first vessel for Europe, and put himself in 
such a condition that neither spirits nor mortals could play tricks on 
him. He was vexed at all who saw him for not telling of it at once. 

The razor with which the shaving was done, lay on a shelf in the 
corner cupboard, and to get and use it, of course, the spirit must 
have materialized himself. Henry Carpenter. 

No wonder that the medium was out of temper, for 
it foreboded no good to him if, after resigning himself 
to mediumship, he should be at the mercy of any pass- 
ing poltergeist, and no friendly power stood by to protect 



194 THE SMOKING SQUAW. 

him from harm. He presented a comical enough 
appearance with his lip half shaved, and his indigna- 
tion was forcibly expressed at all who had suffered him 
to go about for an hour or so looking like such a fright, 
without telling him of his misfortune. 

The weather on Monday evening was favorable, the 
moon shining brightly, the temperature of the air low, 
and a hard frost beginning. Eight spirits showed them- 
selves — four Indians and four whites. Honto came 
first, and went through her usual performance, " mate- 
rializing " shawls, pieces of cloth, and white lace, and 
dancing. She moved to the extreme south end of the 
platform, and stood there making signs to Horatio Eddy 
which he did not understand. She was just turning to 
go back, when Mrs. Eaton's shrill voice, calling from 
■within the cabinet, said : " She wants to smoke." I filled 
my own pipe and handed it to Horatio, who lighted it, 
and gave it to the squaw ; and then we had the astonish- 
ing spectacle of a materialized spirit from the other 
world, walking about and drawing such great whiffs 
from a tobacco-pipe, that the glowing contents of the 
bowl cast a ruddy glow upon her coppery features. 
Alas ! for all our poetical fancies about vapory forms, 
and snowy robes, and shining wings, and harps of gold 
■ — there stood a smoking squaw before us, in feature, 
costume and complexion the type of her race, and with 
no more appearance of spirituality about her than any 
of the women in the room, who sat there regarding 
her with amazement ! 

Another squaw who appeared that evening was a 
new-comer, unknown to any one present, but claiming 




THE SMOKING SQUAW. 



TWO VOICES AT ONCE. 197 

to be one of the band influencing a medium visitor. 
She was a very short woman, not above five feet high, 
and of a very much darker complexion than Honto. 
She wore a dress of dark blue or black, apparently the 
former — trimmed with bands of large beads that clat- 
tered as she walked. Her moccasins and leggings 
were also trimmed with them, and her hair was very 
long and thick, and hung free down her back. 

Mrs. R saw her son again to-night, and in reply 

to her question : " Are you happy, my son ?" I heard 
him distinctly say: "I am, mother!" There was no 
ventriloquism by somebody within the cabinet, for I 
dimly saw his lips move, and at the same time he made 
a reassuring gesture to lend emphasis to his words. 

And now will the reader go back a paragraph and 
note what may have escaped his notice : That while 
Honto was out on the stage, a dozen feet distant from 
the cabinet, and with her back towards it, we were 
addressed by another person from within its dark 
recess ! It having been demonstrated that William has 
no confederates, it is in order for the skeptics to choose 
between the alternatives of admitting that Honto and 
he are not identical, or of accounting for the presence 
of a second person in a place where it was a physical 
impossibility for any mortal to be. 

Another circumstance going to prove the same thing 
I find I have omitted to mention, viz: Whenever 
Honto passes one of her materialized shawls or pieces 
of cloth into the cabinet, after exhibiting it to the audi- 
ence, it is not thrown in, but handed to some other person 
behind the curtain. Who it is we know not, for we 
7* 



198 TWO SPIRITS AT ONE TIME. 

never see the form, nor even a hand. The action is not 
done in a way to attract attention, for it is so natural ; 
and I suppose I must have seen it a dozen times, before 
I appreciated its importance as evidence in favor of the 
defendant, which, of course, the medium must be 
regarded as being. 

Other evidence, and of the best kind, going to show 
that the forms appearing upon the platform are not the 
medium, is afforded in the following certificate, which 
has been handed to me by one of the signers. It so 
happened that the whole of this party found themselves 
together at Chittenden on a second visit, and I was thus 
enabled to procure their joint testimony as to the inter- 
esting facts stated : 

Chittenden, October 21st, 1874. 
We hereby certify that at a circle, held on the 28th of April last, 
in the new hall at the Eddy homestead, among other things that 
occurred, was the following, which we regarded as very conclusive 
as to the genuineness of the spirit materializations : " Santum" was 
out on the platform, and another Indian of almost as great stature 
came out, and the two passed and re-passed each other as they walked 
up and down. The stranger chief retired first, and Santum followed 
him. At the same time, a conversation was being carried on between 
" George Dix," " Mayflower," old " Mr. Morse," and " Mrs. Eaton," 
inside the cabinet. We recognized the familiar voice of each. 

We had all examined the cabinet that evening, and helped clear 
it of some plaster and other rubbish. There was no window in it 
then. R. Hodgson, M. D., Stoneham, Mass. 

George Ralph, Utica, N. Y. 

Sarah A. Ehle, Utica, N. Y. 

Cora C. Ehle, Utica, N. Y. 

Hermon Ehle, Utica, N. Y. 

Observe the points covered in this document: 1. 
Two giant Indian spirits are seen at once, walking up 
and down; 2. A conversation between four voices is 



A BUSY SEANCE. 201 

going on inside the cabinet, while the two Indians are 
outside, in view ; 3. There was no window then in the 
cabinet; this seance being held in April, three months 
after the circle-room was built, and the window not 
being cut through the wall until the following July. 

On the next evening I saw more spirits than on any 
other single occasion but one, during my whole visit. 
Seventeen showed themselves, and all were whites. 
There were of babies, 2; small children, 3; women, 
young and old, 5 ; and adult males, 7. The theory that 
deceptive imitations of little children were made by 
wrapping white rags around one or both the medium's 
legs, as occasion required, was destroyed by the circum- 
stance that the smallest child, not a babe, I saw that 
evening, bowed and curtsied to its mother, in reply to her 
question as to its identity. 

Mr. Pritchard, who sat next to me on my right in the 
front row, was called to the platform by Mrs. Eaton's 
voice, and when he reached there, his two nephews 
William and Chester Packard, late of Albany, N. Y., 
came out in turn to greet him ; the former shaking hands 
with him, and laying his left hand upon his uncle's 
shoulder. 

At the close of the evening, Mrs. Eaton's voice, 
addressing me, said that William was being developed 
for a new and startling phase of mediumship, the nature 
of which she did not condescend to explain. 

I have a memorandum among my notes of this day, 
that a number of persons from different localities, were 
turned back upon applying for admission to the farm- 
house ; and at the risk of appearing over-urgent, recall 



202 DISAPPOINTMENT. 

attention to what I have previously said upon this subject. 
I have seen respectable persons refused, after making 
very long journeys, and assuming expenses that I am 
sure they could ill-afford, to have the satisfaction of seeing 
their loved and lost ones. It is a bitter disappointment 
in any case, to have the door shut in one's face under 
such circumstances, but to those whose hearts are bleed- 
ing from wounds just inflicted, it must have been agony. 
All my sympathies have gone out to some sad-eyed 
women, whose wistful gaze has lingered about the door, 
as the horses' heads were finally turned towards Rutland. 
I have felt at such times the desire for unlimited wealth, 
that, after proving the reality of these phenomena, I 
might buy this place, erect great buildings, pension off 
the brothers for life, and throw open the doors of a new 
and capacious circle-room to all who might come. 

But what can these boys do? Their ancient house 
holds only a score of strangers, even with close packing, 
and they are forced to establish rules of admission, and 
stand by them. If people will come from Michigan or 
Minnesota, from Kentucky or South Carolina, without 
assuring themselves in advance of bed and board, the 
responsibility of exclusion rests with them. I have had 
some of my own personal acquaintances served so, and 
did not remonstrate. But it would save disappointment 
and trouble to all concerned, if some sort of system were 
inflexibly maintained. It seems to me that it would be a 
very easy matter for the family to issue cards to appli- 
cants, good for so many days from and after such a date. 
As things are mismanaged at present, good, candid people 
are often refused, and penniless or deceitful marplots 



SOME RULE NECESSARY. 203 

often received. It will be found in every instance, I 
think, where visitors have gone away dissatisfied with the 
genuineness of the manifestations, that they have stayed 
less than a week, and so had next to no opportunity to 
really see or understand the phenomena as they are. 

Nearly every one of the scurrilous attacks that have 
appeared in newspapers, has been written by just such 
superficial investigators, and the family owe it to them- 
selves to take nobody for less than one week. But it is a 
waste of words to talk to them about their reputations as 
mediums, their duties to the public, or their treatment of 
visitors. Their reply is, that the house is their home, they 
invite none to come, and they have the right to say whom 
they will accept, and whom reject. As to their reputa- 
tions, they profess to care nothing as to what is said 
concerning them, good, bad, or indifferent. They are a 
strange family, and seem to reserve their worst treatment 
for those who are most desirous to befriend them. There 
are exceptions, but this seems the rule. 

Another argument in favor of the establishment of such 
a rule as that above suggested, is the uncertainty as to a 
visitor seeing his friends in any short stay. I have fre- 
quently known of their being favored in their first seance, 
and, again, as often of their seeing nobody they cared 
for, even after waiting patiently for a week or more. If 
we could " call up " whomsoever we chose, as Saul did 
the shade of Samuel, it would be another matter, but 
under present conditions the visits of our angel friends 
seem to depend upon laws beyond their control or our 
own. 

For my part, I confess that, in view of the uncertainty 



204 IDENTITY OF MINOR CONSEQUENCE. 

of our being able to demonstrate their identity even 
when they do come, if they come at all, in consequence 
of our ignorance of the limits to the mischievous power 
of the jugglers of the other world to cheat us with coun- 
terfeit presentments of our " deceased " friends, and the 
unsatisfied feeling that their flitting appearance before 
our eyes leaves behind, I care less that any individual 
person should come, than that any spirit at all should be 
able to break down the wall between the two worlds. In 
short, if I can be satisfied through these " manifestations " 
of the great basic fact of Immortality, I am satisfied to 
wait with a cheerful heart for the coming of that hour, 
common to us all, when the mystery of life will be solved, 
and the veil be drawn aside to let the glorious light 
stream in. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE DARK CIRCLE. 

WILLIAM'S circle was followed by one of Horatio's 
" dark-circles," in which what occurs, is in a room 
totally dark. The preparations for this event 
consist in hanging shawls or blankets over the four win- 
dows nearest the platform, to exclude even starlight, 
removing the table with its array of musical instruments 
to a position on the main floor just in front of the railing, 
and tying Horatio in a chair, placed to the right of the 
table and in front of the spectators. Upon the extinction 
of the light, the gruff voice of the sailor-spirit " George 
Dix " and the piping whisper of the little girl-spirit " May- 
flower " are heard greeting us, special mention being 
often made of favorite acquaintances by the curiously 
matched copartners in the direction of these striking 
seances. Dix asserts, that he was drowned at the wreck 
of the Steamship President, which may or may not be 
true, but the truth of which is of no consequence in view 
of what he does and causes to be done. 

If any over-zealous inquirer should wish to verify the 
fact, he can do so by taking the trouble to examine the 

shipping papers of the crew of the ill-fated steamship, 

205 



206 MA YFLO WER 'S STOR V. 

which will no doubt be found in the archives of the 
Customs Bureau of the Treasury Department. So far as 
I am personally concerned, Dix might as well call him- 
self Jack Cade or General Washington. More than this, 
as we are in pitchy darkness, I would not waste time in 
speaking of him at all, if I thought the things he does 
could be done by Horatio if he were free to move about 
as much as he liked. 

"Mayflower's " story is that she died of fever, a century 
ago, while a captive among the Indians of the Maine 
wilderness. She was the daughter of Italian immigrants, 
who were murdered on their " clearing " in one of the 
many Indian raids by which the early settlers on our 
Canadian frontier were so greatly harassed. This spirit, 
by some strange law of spiritual intercourse not satisfac- 
torily explained to me, re-visits this world as a child of 
twelve years, and manifests juvenile traits in all that she 
does. She exhibits the Italian talent for improvisation, 
hardly missing an opportunity to rattle off her verses upon 
any subject named impromptu by any person in the 
audience. She is also an accomplished performer on 
various instruments, which she plays with rare power and 
expression. Her nature, judging by her conversation and 
acts, is simple, innocent, and kindly ; her heart is warm 
and sympathetic, and her chief desire to afford pleasure 
to those of a refined disposition whom the fame of these 
circles may have attracted to the place. George Dix, on 
the other hand, is a manly, powerful spirit, with a grip 
like a vice, a rollicking, prankish nature, and a hoarse 
voice, like that of one accustomed to shout in storms 
from maintop to deck. 




* fiw'wimgm 








s® 



? ~\\ 



m 



GEORGE DIX, THE SAILOR. 209 

He is a spinner of yarns, not always devoid of a coarser 
flavor than the customs of mixed assemblages permit ; an 
ingenious fellow, who sings, plays well on the violin, 
whistles like a Boehm flute, and to keep things lively, is 
ready to bear a hand at any sort of work, from the mov- 
ing of ponderous objects and the ringing of bells, to the 
imitation of almost any sound produced by any of the 
mechanic arts with which he is familiar. Moreover, he 
is one of your men of knowledge, and given to the 
unreserved utterance of opinions ; ready at a moment's 
notice to give you the analysis of electricity or a poetical 
invocation to the Deity; just as, according to Sydney 
Smith, Lord John Russell was ready to attempt the com- 
mand of the Channel Fleet or the operation for lithotomy, 
with equal alacrity. But George Dix, or George what- 
soever may be his name, is a capital good fellow, who has 
always a hearty grip for an honest man, and a heavy fist 
for those who deserve to feel its weight. When Dr. 
B was here, it was Dix's hand that, in Horatio's light- 
circle, beat that worthy over the head with the guitar, 
causing his precipitate flight and striking terror into his 
guilty soul ; and it was he who one night in a dark-circle 
pulled a man named Frost by the legs out of his chair to 
the floor, with a great bump that shook us in our seats. 
When I say " grip " I mean just that, for this spirit, in 
addition to shaking hands with me sundry times, once 
gave mc one of the grips of a Master Mason, which for 
want of space, or another sufficient reason, I will not now 
describe. Horatio, I may remark, is not a Mason. 

Compliments being exchanged, a medley performance 
begins. There is a dance of a pack of a dozen howling, 



210 A HURLY-BURLY. 

leaping, skylarking Indians, who beat on the drums, rat- 
tle the tambourines, blow the horns, ring the heavier 
bells, and make a din so hideous that one easily fancies 
himself caught in the melee of a dance of live redskins 
about starting on the war-path. If Horatio were unbound 
and using all four of his locomotive and prehensile mem- 
bers, he could not imitate this dance. The creatures 
yell, and one can hear their stamping on the floor in 
cadence with their rude music. The dance is preceded 
by a stillness so dead that, for any sound of life, we might 
fancy the room empty. A slow beating of the time, a 
few clangs of the big dinner-bell, a measured beat of the 
tambourine, and then the time grows faster and faster, 
until, in a moment, we are in the midst of the hurly-burly. 
It needed no stretch of imagination to see, even in the 
Egyptian darkness of the hall, the wild figures circling 
round and round, for their demonstrations were of so 
obstreperous a character as to frighten all but habitues 
of the coolest temperaments. As an exhibition of pure 
brute force, if such a term may be applied to the occult 
power that produces it, this Indian dance probably is 
unsurpassed in the annals of spiritual manifestations. 

Following this episode, upon the evening in question, 
came a sword-combat, apparently between two persons, 
for the hacking of the two blades was, it seemed to me, 
too violent to be done by one man operating in the dark, 
at the risk of chopping off a finger, or mutilating a wrist. 
The play of weapons ended in a sudden groan, and the 
falling of a man's body on the floor at my feet. I cer- 
tainly thought some one had found his quietus, with some 
one's else bare bodkin, but a match being struck and a 




THE DARK-CIRCLE. 



ANOTHER TEST. 213 

candle lighted, the medium was found sitting quietly in his 
chair, with his bonds undisturbed, and no sign of perspira- 
tion on his skin. The floor, however, was littered with 
musical instruments and bells, and the swords of the 
unseen combatants were lying along with them. The 
scenes sketched by the artist in two of the cuts give an 
idea of the appearance of the room, before the extinction 
of the candle and upon its re-lighting. 

The medium (or rather the spirit controlling him, for 
he is supposed to be in an unconscious state, and his 
organs used by a spirit, which may or may not be true, 
and which I do not regard as important in the settlement 
of our problem) then invited me to take measures to 
satisfy myself that the phenomena were genuine. Accord- 
ingly a gentleman present, Mr. George W. Nichols, of 
John H. Draper & Co., auctioneers, New York City, sat 
in Horatio Eddy's lap, while I, drawing up my chair in 
front of him, placed my feet upon Horatio's toes and held 
Mr. Nichols' hands, thus making it impossible that either 
of the three should move without each of the others 
knowing it. Moreover, Horatio could not move if he 
wished, for his hands were tightly bound to the back of 
his chair, and even if he could disengage them, he could 
not move them forward to touch us, or the instruments 
scattered about ; his slightest motion would be instantly 
detected by the man sitting on his lap. The light was 
again extinguished and a new performance began. 
Hands, cold, clammy, and firm, stroked our faces, patted 
our heads and hands, slapped me on my back and legs, 
and Mr. Nichols on the parts of his person not leaning 
against the medium, a pair of lips kissed my cheek, and 



214 WONDERFUL RESULT. 

two huge hands tickled me under my arms at one time. 
Then the accordeon, concertina, and tambourine were 
played all about us, bells were rung, blows given on the 
floor with the swords, and the guitar, floating through 
the air or resting upon my head, played one or more 
familiar airs. Meanwhile every person in the front row 
of the audience sat with hands joined, which is the same 
as saying, that no one, even if so disposed, could get to 
us to do what was done. These manifestations being 
concluded, light was called for, and we two resumed our 
seats in the "circle." The artist's sketch shows our 
relative positions during the test sitting. 

The next thing in order was the improvisation of 
rhymes by Mayflower. The dear child, who came and 
laid her little hand on mine for an instant, allowed me to 
name the subject, and then reeled off a score of limping 
hexameters, hardly worth preservation as specimens of 
poetry, even if I could have had them reported verbatim ; 
but when she breathed the words through the stops of 
the harmonicon, with exquisite modulation of the sounds, 
her " golden stairs " and " silver shores " and " Heavenly 
fields " seemed almost to come before us as pictures of a 
fairy land. 

Then George Dix's voice announced that " the band," 
composed of spirits known as Electa, Honto, Santum, 
Rosa, the Italian girl, French Mary, Mayflower, and him- 
self, would render the piece called "The Storm at Sea." 
I would have the reader observe that I regard the names 
given to themselves by the various spirits, as a matter of 
the smallest possible account. I doubt very much if 
" Santum " or either of the other names are of genuine 



MRS. EMMA F. M?CORM(CK.. 




GQL.0W.07T, NIR.NIGHOLS.ANOMFDIUM/N DARKCIRGLE, 

A NOTED MEDIUM. 



A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE. 217 

Indian origin, but that does not trouble me as much as to 
know if any spirit from the other world is standing in my 
presence. That is the question of questions; individual 
identities are of trivial importance in comparison with 
that. 

I am no musical critic, and so will give place to a 
competent hand to describe this remarkable performance, 
which is given in a majority of Horatio's dark-circles. 
Here is what Mr. Lenzberg says, and any one who has 
attended a circle at Chittenden need not be informed of 
the difference between this sort of music and what 
Horatio favors us with : 

Henry S. Olcott, Esq., 

Dear Sir : At your request I state the following facts : 
I am a musician by profession, and teach the art in Hartford, Ct. 
I attended a dark-circle at the Eddy house, last evening, at which 
various solos, duos, trios, and concerted pieces were played by some 
mysterious performers. The solos were upon the violin, guitar, flute, 
piccolo, concertina, and mouth harmonicon. The two most surpris- 
ing features of the performance were : (1), the playing on a guitar 
as it floated from one side of the room to the other, through the air, 
a distance of at least fifteen feet (this was not a mere strumming of 
the strings, but a delicate and artistic playing of a popular air in 
pianissimo) ; and (2) the execution of the air of " Home, Sweet 
Home" on the concertina. The invisible performer managed to get 
more power, and at the same time preserve as good expression as any 
person I have ever heard handle the instrument. I noticed the 
same striking feature as with the guitar playing, viz. : that the 
musical sound was prolonged, and the swells maintained, through 
a much greater space laterally, than any mortal performer could 
cover, and at the same time sustain the same quality 6f tone. There 
were no sounds of footsteps, and the instrument was played so close 
to us that I could feel the wind it made as it passed through the air. 
I have heard Horatio Eddy, the medium of the dark-circle, play on 
the violin, and I unhesitatingly say that his style and execution are 
as totally different from those of the unseen soloist as possible. 

The concerted pieces were an imitation of a storm at sea, by the 
violin, with the accompaniment of the mouth harmonicon, tambour- 
ine, concertina, triangle, guitar, and several bells. In the storm, the 



2l8 A PROFESSOR'S OPINIONS. 

whistling of the wind was made apparently by bowing on the guitar 
with one hand, and at the same time by sliding the other up and 
down the fingerboard, producing harmonic notes. The heavy blow- 
ing of the gale was imitated by a tremolo on the violin, accompanied 
by a confusion of sounds from the other instruments. The shock of 
waves against the ship was forcibly suggested by lifting a heavy table 
and beating the floor with its legs. There was one sound that could 
not possibly be imitated by any instrument, viz. : the pumping of 
water, with the suck of the piston, the gurgle of water in the tube, 
and its splash, as if running off on deck. 

Throughout the whole entertainment, the medium sat in a chair in 
front of the spectators, with his wrists tied together and to the back 
of the chair, A light was struck instantly after some of the most 
remarkable performances, and he was found in the same position 
and tied in the same manner as at the first. The front row of spec- 
tators kept hands joined from first to last, there was but one member 
of his family present beside himself, who sat next but one to me, and 
I am positively sure that she had nothing to do with what occurred. 
Even if she and Horatio had been on the floor, it would have been 
impossible for both together to do what was done. 

The above is as careful and minute an account of the musical part 
of last night's dark-circle as I can give, and I am ready at any time 
to substantiate its truth by my oath in a court of justice, if called 
upon. 

I must tell you of one thing that happened, as wonderful as any- 
thing above related. My little daughter, sitting at the other end of 
the front row, asked the child-spirit calling Jierself Mayflower, to 
kiss me, and immediatety I received kisses upon my mouth and 
cheek from a pair of smooth, soft lips, which certainly were not 
Horatio's, for he wears a heavy moustache and goatee. Moreover, 
the room was so totally dark that no human being could have found 
the places touched, without feeling for them with his hands, which 
was not done. Max Lenzberg, 

29 Pleasant Street, Hartford, Conn. 

Chittenden, October 14th, 1874. 

This is a " dark-circle " as it appears to persons 
favored with only the usual range of senses — a place 
of pitchy darkness, unillumined by the faintest speck 
of light, except when little balls of phosphorescence 
shoot hither and thither through the air, the only senses 
ordinarily used being those of hearing and feeling. 



A CLAIRVOYANT S DESCRIPTION'. 219 

But how different must it appear to the inner sight of 
the clairvoyant, if we admit that their descriptions are 
not based upon the promptings of an overwrought 
imagination ! I was so fortunate as to meet at the 
Eddys' a Mrs. Emma F. McCormick, an excellent " test- 
medium," of Providence, R. I., who kindly gave me a 
description of the dark-circle that I will try to put into 
words, as, at least to me, an interesting novelty in spir- 
itual literature. 

When the light was extinguished, instead of the cav- 
ernous darkness that oppressed our senses, the room 
became to the clairvoyant suffused with a great light, 
as though a full moon had suddenly risen upon her 
vision. The light was steady, not flickering. The 
walls of the apartment, as transparent as crystal, dis- 
closed a multitude of spirits stretching upward and 
backward — a great host that no man could number. 
On every side they thronged — men, women, and chil- 
dren — and gazed at the mortals below and the scene 
that was being enacted in their hearing. They were 
all bathed in the light that shone about them, but 
differed in glory, one from the other. Certain of them 
hovered over and about the medium, showering sparks 
of light upon him more brilliant than diamonds, when- 
ever they approached him within a certain distance. 
From every side in the air above us, the light, concen- 
trated into a sort of zodiacal canopy, formed a vortex, 
like a water-spout or thunder-cloud, and then spread 
out in showers of sparks, whose radius marked the 
area within which all the " manifestations " occurred. 

Some spirits were clothed in gauzy vapors of differing 



220 A MULTITUDE OF SPIRITS. 

brightness and colors, some bluish, some gravish, 
and some pure white, the several tints indicating the 
moral status of the spirits, pure white being the highest 
of all. Their countenances shone with a brightness 
corresponding with that of their raiment, some like the 
face of Moses when he descended from Sinai, being so 
glorious that it seemed as if no mortal man could look 
upon them. 

Upon the floor of the circle room the lucide saw a 
spirit-man with a smooth face, stern and resolute in 
expression, who controlled and directed the perform- 
ance. When he approached the rest fell back, as 
though he carried the power of command in the very- 
essence of his nature. The Indians in the dance were 
sometimes on the floor, sometimes leaping high up in 
the air, and one group, apart from the others, laid their 
heads together and intently regarded some object on 
the platform, which, from Mrs. McCormick's descrip- 
tion of the locality, I judged to be a small spring 
table-gong that I had procured that day, with which to 
try certain experiments that I shall describe at the 
proper time, but of my possession of w r hich she was not 
aware. 

Off in one corner were gathered a band of white men 
whom she thought were pirates, who had stealthily 
approached, and looked at the medium as if desirous 
of getting control of him, but a number of bright 
spirits, seeing their intention, clustered about him as 
if to shield him from harm. The color of the light 
around these pirates was a dark drab, and when the 
body fell after the sword combat, previously described, 



SURROUNDED BY SPIRIT FRIENDS. 223 

she seemed to see a dead body carried off by these com- 
rades, who were enveloped in a dense cloud of smoke. 
Mayflower appeared a girl of fourteen or fifteen, of a 
fair complexion, dark hair and eyes. She looked as if she 
were encompassed with a rainbow, and was a bright, 
beautiful creature, but more attracted to the earth than 
some of the others in the shining throng. The effect of 
her music upon the other spirits was very marked. They 
seemed to enjoy it, and their feelings were indicated by 
a great increase in the brilliancy of the light about them. 

The members of our circle of the evening were each 
attended by his or her special friends, who showed affec- 
tion in embraces, loving appeals, the laying of crowns 
of flowers upon our heads, and of emblematic floral 
devices of various kinds upon our laps. Some seemed 
to her to kneel at the knees of their friends, and gaze up 
into their faces with eager, hungry looks, as if they would 
force a sense of their presence through the impenetrable 
walls of flesh in which they were still held captive. We 
mortals, like our spirit-friends, were also surrounded by 
our special and peculiar spheres of light, varying in 
brilliancy, color, and transparency, in degree with our 
moral elevation. Along the united hands of the front 
rank ran a chain of electricity or some other fluid, like 
lightning, reddish-yellow in color, with bubbles of light 
coming up here and there, and then bursting, and the 
even flow of the stream interfered with and made to zig- 
zag by the unequal personal magnetic force of the several 
sitters. 

In "The Storm at Sea" she saw Pix holding what 

seemed a bunch of reeds, that vibrated as a stream of 
8 



224 - DIX, AS A MUSICIAN. 

electricity or other bright fluid ran through them. When 
he imitated the pumping of water, it seemed as if he 
forced two masses of electricity together, handling the 
subtle agent as if it were a solid substance. She could 
see him stretching out his hands and gathering it from 
the air to condense and compact it, as one might gather 
light snow and form the feathery flakes into a solid ball. 
He was never idle, but passed from one employment to 
another with indomitable perseverance, now playing the 
violin, and anon imitating the whistling of wind or the 
swash of water, according as the exigencies of the perform- 
ance seemed to demand. 

But, of a sudden, the beatific vision of the clairvoyant 
is rudely terminated by the lighting of the smoky candle, 
whose feeble gleam, struggling through the obscurity of 
the room, replaces the noonday brightness of her opened 
heavens. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PHILOSOPHICAL TESTS. 

AMONG other tests that I desired to apply to Honto, 
was one to satisfy myself whether she possessed 
the superhuman power of self-levitation. I ac- 
cordingly procured a small table-gong, which could be 
rung by dropping a weight of half an ounce upon the 
handle from the height of one inch, and took it to Chit- 
tenden with me. One evening, when a favorable oppor- 
tunity offered, I requested the spirit to step upon the han- 
dle without ringing the gong, which I had previously 
placed on the platform at a convenient point for obser- 
vation. She assented, but before trusting herself upon 
the frail knob examined it with characteristic caution 
and curiosity. She finally gathered up her skirts, and, 
placing the ball of her right foot upon it, stepped up 
and bore her whole weight upon it without disturbing 
the clapper. The experiment was repeated twice at my 
request. I then asked her to step on it and cause the 
bell to ring after she stood fairly upon the knob. She 
did so. Her success seemed to amuse her greatly, and 

by clapping her hands and in other ways, she testified 

225 



226 HON TO AND THE GONG. 

her satisfaction. She advanced her hand towards the 
unfamiliar object with the caution that one would feel 
in laying hold of something hot, but finally mustered 
courage to take it up and ring it over and over again, 
laughing and dancing like a child pleased with a new 
toy. Her usual performance with the shawls and 
gauzes then followed, and she strutted up and down 
the platform with a long piece of the latter material 
wrapped around her, as though she were a belle prom- 
enading in a new mantilla for the public admiration. 
Just before she was about to bid us adieu, I asked her 
to place the gong on the railing directly in front of me 
and ring it, so that I might distinctly see her hand 
pressing down the knob. She bowed compliance, and 
putting the article where I designated, retired for a 
moment into the cabinet, perhaps to gain strength, and 
then returning, lifted her skirt again, rang the h€i\with 
her left foot, and ran out, kissing her hand to us. The 
wire to which the knob of the gong is attached, is 
about as thick as a broom straw, and I regarded the 
experiment as of great importance, until I afterwards 
found that, by stepping very cautiously, and bearing on 
very gradually, I could make the knob sustain my own 
weight. But I could not ring the bell after I stood 
upon the knob, nor step on it as briskly as she did, 
without causing it to sound. She was dressed, this 
evening, in a new white costume throughout. 

My reference to her retiring into the cabinet for the 
purpose of gaining renewed strength from her medium, 
recalls to mind an account I saw in the London Spirit- 
ualist, some time ago, of an experience of Sir Charles 



WEAKNESS OF MATERIALIZED FORMS. 229 

Isham, Bart , with a famous materialized spirit called 
" Florence," who appears in the presence of Miss 
Showers, the medium. Sir Charles was accompanied 
to the house of Mrs. Makdougall Gregory by a lady, 
whose description of what occurred he quotes in pre- 
face to what he has to tell himself. Says the lady : 

" Florence, who had seemed very willing to receive all the other 
members of the circle, exclaimed in a distressed and startled tone 
when I advanced toward her : " Not so near ! not so near ! " and 
then, as if in pain, she added, " There is something comes from her 
that hurts me — I feel melting away — I must go back to my medium, 
to get more power from my medium." 

These last sentences were uttered in very feeble, faltering tones, 
and her appearance gave the impression of one who was fainting 
away, or sinking away. The face was ghastly pale, and the eyes 
turned upwards so that the white only was visible. She withdrew 
behind the curtain, and I returned to my seat ; but in a few moments 
she re-appeared, and I was shortly afterward recalled. Mr. Gregory 
gave me a rose to present to the spirit. This time I was allowed to 
come nearer, but my presence still seemed to excite alarm and dis- 
tress, the spirit again exclaiming : " Not too near !" not too near !" 

She accepted the rose, however, without hesitation, her long atten- 
uated fingers slowly and feebly closing round the stalk, as though 
she had very little muscular power. 

She then said, in a very languid, plaintive tone, " I must go now. 
I must go now." 

It was the same in London with Mr. Crookes' real 
u Katie King," who had to retire into the cabinet from 
time to time to gather strength. 

Ten spirits appeared this evening — Honto; Mrs. 
Pritchard, an aged lady, who spoke to her son and to 
us all in whispered tones ; Miss Maggie Brown, who 
brought out her bouquet of flowers, as usual ; Mary 
Staples and Clarinda Tilden, whose brother was pres- 
ent at this, his second seance; Caroline , who held 

a baby in her arms, and at my request, shifted it from 



230 ANOTHER LIGHT-CIRCLE. 

her left arm, where it was badly seen against the dark 
background of the curtain, to her right, where it 
was well relieved against the white wall ; De Witt 
Hitchcock, a young man with black moustache ; Clara 
Arnold, a child of four years, whose father instantly 
recognized her ; and Jonathan Morse, an old man and 
former neighbor of the Eddys, who addressed us in a 
heavy bass voice. 

One of Horatio's light-circles followed, at which the 
gentleman and lady whose portraits were given in the 
illustration to a former chapter, sat beside the medium, 
The usual manifestations occurred, hands of various 
sizes being distinctly and often shown in various places, 
several instruments played upon simultaneously, and 
the heads and backs of the sitters, including the medium, 
patted and stroked by the detached hands. Let the 
reader refer to the picture above alluded to, which is 
drawn to a scale, and accurately shows the respective 
distances of the sitters from each other, and from the 
various points about them, and he will see the impossi- 
bility of Horatio's stroking his own face and patting 
his own head, with his right hand thrust through the 
opening between the two shawls, without immediately 
betraying himself by pulling the shawl behind him off 
the cord that sustains it. I have recently had a letter 
from Mr. C. O. Poole, a wealthy gentleman residing at 
Metuchin, !N\ J., about what he saw at one of these light- 
circles, in company with myself and about thirty other 
persons. I make the following extracts : 

" I saw three hands appear at once that night. You undoubtedly 
have it all in your note-book, and I need only say, that I am ready 


















SPIRIT CARD-WRITING, 



WRITING ON CARDS. 



2 33 



and willing to certify, and even swear to the facts. * * * * 
. Among other things, I saw the guitar rise above the curtain, at least 
three feet above Horatio's head, and saw a hand on it apparently 
strumming the strings. This, of course, was not the medium's, for it 
would have been a physical impossibility for it to have been there." 

The usual writing of the names of deceased friends 
of the spectators by spirit-hands, upon cards behind 
and in front of the curtain, was varied upon this occa- 
sion for my particular benefit. A number of blank 
cards were called for, and handed by me to one of the 
spirit-hands thrust through the curtain to receive them. 
The pen and inkstand were then passed through in like 
manner, and immediately a number of cards came 
showering upon me, over the top of the curtain at a 
point between the gentleman and lady sitters, and, as it 
appeared to me, not from the direction they would start 
from if thrown over by Horatio's liberated right hand 
behind the curtain. The cards were all blank when I 
handed them in, and no other cards were on the table 
at the beginning of the seance. Moreover, each of 
those thrown at me had something written upon it, and 
the ink was so fresh that I laid them out separately 
upon the railing to dry. What was written may be 
seen by a glance at fac-similies numbers 1-6. 

I expressed my satisfaction at the favor shown me, 
and said, that the fac-similes I would give would no 
doubt be very interesting to the public ; whereupon 
there was a general ringing of bells, strumming of 
instruments, and pounding upon the table, that gave a 
sufficiently marked response to my friendly speech. The 
next day, when the artist and I compared the cards with 
the width of a newspaper column, I thought it would be 
better to have the names written perpendicularly and on 



234 A REMARKABLE DOCUMENT. 

a narrower strip ; so, without saying anything to Horatio, 
I laid a piece of thick paper on top of a cupboard attached 
to the wall of his bedroom, in the hope that the ever 
watchful invisibles, knowing my wish, would favor me 
with a corrected edition of their signs-manual. The 
next morning I found the paper covered with signatures, 
headed with some lines of wretched Latin, and topped 
off with some equally bad English. I give a fac-simile 
of this remarkable document, which may possess a cer- 
tain interest in the eyes of many, as probably the first 
thing of the kind that has appeared in a newspaper. 

I am quite aware of the fact that, as a scientific experi- 
ment, the procuring of the second set of names has no 
value, for no one was present when it was written, or can 
affirm it was not by the medium himself; so I let that 
pass. But what 'shall be said of the cards, written in the 
light-circle before twenty people, Which bear so marked a 
resemblance to them ? That Horatio could write them 
with his right hand behind a thick curtain where he 
could not see the marks his pen was making ? That he 
could draw a flying-bird, a sketch of a house with its 
rear extension and detached wood-shed ? That he 
could ornament names, written piecemeal and not with 
a continuous pressure of the pen upon the paper, with 
wreaths? This theory will hardly cover the prob- 
abilities. 

Immediately upon seeing this series of fac-similes 
re-produced in the Graphic, (which was not for several 
weeks after the originals were written, and after they had 
been forwarded to New York), I noticed the striking 
similarity in the shape of the letters with Horatio Eddy's 



FAC- SIMILE OF SPIRIT-WRITING. 235 








tZerrf* ^/£ 




aw^^^f 




r-/> 



'm£t 



<?=*&• 



236 FA C- SIMILE OF SPIRIT- WRITING, CONTINUED. 








HONTO IN HIGH SPIRITS. 237 

own manuscript. Public attention was also called to the 
same fact by a correspondent of the paper. The circum- 
stance is well calculated to excite suspicion of fraud on" 
the part of the medium, and I must regard it as weighing 
against him. But it is far from conclusive proof of his 
turpitude ; for, strange as the assertion may seem, I have 
it from credible authority that communications have 
been written in exact fac-simile of a medium's hand- 
writing, in his or her presence, when the writing was not 
done by the medium. 

One lady of high social position, and not a public 
medium, informs me that on one occasion, when she was 
sitting with her sister, alone, a communication was writ- 
ten by an invisible power, upon a sheet of paper held by 
her against the under side of the table-top ; the writing 
so resembled her own that she would have been willing 
to swear that it was written by her own hand, if it had 
been shown her under any other circumstances. 

The next evening found Honto in a very lively mood. 
She seemed to overflow with animal spirits, running up 
and down the platform, dancing, kicking up her feet, and 
producing her shawls from all sorts of unexpected places. 
Her hair to-night hung loose down her back and was 
unusually thick. I have previously, I believe, stated 
that it varies from time to time, not only in the style in 
which it is worn, but also in its length and mass. This 
evening its great length and thickness were remarked by 
a lady spectator, whereupon Honto turned her back 
towards us, and leaning back, let her luxuriant tresses 
hang over the platform railing. I should judge that the 
hair was a yard and a quarter in length, and it was as black 



2 3 8 



HEIGHT OF THE SPIRITS. 



as jet. She shook her head to straighten it out, and then 
with a sudden movement threw the whole mass over her face 
and held her head down so that it covered her face and 
bust like a thick crape veil. The way she flung it 
about proved to one even as inexperienced as myself that 
it was no wig, for it would have been jerked off her head. 

There being a number of new comers in the hall, she 
stood beside Mr. Pritchard to show her height and 
backed up against Mrs. Cleveland for the same purpose. 
Finally, the light being good, she planted herself against 
my height-scale, and Mr. Pritchard laying his cane across 
the top of her head, we saw that he called the figures, 
5 feet 3 inches correctly. 

The squaw Bright Star and a number of other spirits 
also suffered themselves to be measured, the figures 
being as follows : 



Name. 



Honto 

Bright Star.. 
Swift Cloud. 
Wm. Brown. 



Height. 



5 feet 3 inches. 
5 feet 2 1-2 inch. 

5 feet 5 inches. 

6 feet I inch. 



Name. 



Santum 

Piqua 

Carrie Arnold. . 
An old white 



Height. 



6 feet 2 3-4 inch. 
5 feet 3 1-2 inch. 

4 feet. 

5 feet 7 inches. 



On the following evening I tried an experiment that I 
think is unprecedented in the history of scientific inquiry. 

It occurred to me, that if the assertion of the spirits 
that in materializing themselves they accreted matter 
from the atmosphere by the operation of their own will 
were true, and that the relative solidity of their material- 
ization is under their control, the thing might be tested 
by familiar mechanical appliances. I could not conceive 
of solid matter without weight, and I had had too many 
proofs of the materiality of the visible spirit-forms to 
fancy them imponderable and unsubstantial. 



_ ^i- 




THE SCALE TEST. 241 

I had not only heard the shock of Honto's feet upon 
the floor when she leaped over the railing and when she 
jumped high from the floor in some of her caperings,. 
but, both in the dark and light circles, had shaken hands 
with them, and been touched and playfully struck many 
times. To my sense of touch they appeared as substan- 
tial as any human being in the flesh, the only difference 
being in their temperature, which was invariably lower 
than my own, and the skin, which was ordinarily covered 
with a clammy sweat. To put my theory to the proof, 
I procured in Rutland one of Howe's Standard platform 
scales, the capacity and accuracy of which are attested 
in the following certificate : 

Rutland, Vt., October 6th, 1874. 
Henry S. Olcott, Esq., 

Dear Sir: I hereby certify that the platform scale you procured 
from me for your weighing experiments, was one of Howe's best 
" Standards," set true and in perfect order. It will weigh from one 
ounce to 500 pounds. Its own dead weight is no pounds. 

Respectfully, L. G. Kingsley. 

I caused it to be placed upon the platform, to the right 
of the cabinet door, and just in front of the chair in 
which Mr. Pritchard sits. Being denied the privilege of 
sitting there myself, in consequence, as I am told, of my 
being of so positive a nature as to affect and repel the 
spirits (in which particular neither Mr. Pritchard nor 
Mrs. Cleveland resemble me at all) I had to rely for my 
experiment upon the gentleman in question. Accord- 
ingly, I rehearsed the operation with him thoroughly, 
until he was able, in the dark, to quickly weigh a person 
stepping upon the platform and stopping there but a 
moment. I supplied him with parlor-matches, and after 
some last instructions waited the auspicious moment. 



242 WEIGHING HONTO. 

When Honto came out she saluted us as usual, and 
then turned and scrutinized the strange machine with 
Indian-like hesitancy. I told her what was desired, and 
she then stepped boldly upon the proper spot, and bent 
forward to look at the movements of Mr. Pritchard, as 
his hand moved the poise along the beam. The balance 
being attained, as we could all plainly hear by the sound 
of the beam against the pad, she stepped off and passed 
into the cabinet. A match being struck, Mr. Pritchard 
read the scale at 138 pounds, which caused the audience 
no surprise, for, as the reader will observe, by reference to 
the several pictures of Honto that appear in this volume, 
she looks like a woman who would weigh from 135 to 145 
pounds. But the counter-poise at the end of the beam 
appeared to me too thin for the 100-pound weight, and 
upon lighting a second match Mr. Pritchard found that 
it was only the 50-pound weight, and consequently that 
the squaw had only weighed 88 pounds. 

Honto now re-appeared, and I asked her to make her- 
self lighter. She again mounted the platform, and this 
time it was found that she weighed but 58 pounds. The 
experiment was repeated a third time, and her weight 
stood the same as before — 58 pounds. The fourth time 
the reading of the beam showed 65 pounds. Thus, 
without any change of clothing, and all within the space 
of ten minutes, this spirit, who weighed at the beginning 
at least 50 pounds less than any mortal woman of her 
size and height should weigh, reduced her materiality to 
the extent of 30 pounds, and, after holding it there 
several minutes, increased it 7 pounds. Of course it 
would have been infinitely more satisfactory if I could 



PRITCHARD 'S AFFIDA VI T OF RESUL TS. 243 

have first peeped into the dark cabinet and then managed 
the scale myself, for in such case I would not have to 
report, as to a portion of the facts, upon hearsay testimony ; 
and I leave to Mr. Crookes, Mr. Wallace, and other 
intelligent observers, more favorably conditioned than I, 
the task of following up this novel and suggestive inquiry. 
Mr. Pritchard is a reputable citizen of Albany, N. Y., 
retired from business in which he accumulated a compe- 
tency, and I give his affidavit in corroboration of the 
facts I have narrated : 

MR. PRITCHARD'S AFFIDAVIT. 
State of Vermont, County of Rutland, ss. — Edward V. Pritchard, 
of the City of Albany, State of New York, being duly sworn, deposes 
and says that on the evening of September 23d instant, he attended 
a seance or circle at the house of the Eddy family, in the town of 
Chittenden, in the county and State aforesaid : that he was invited 
to occupy a chair on the platform in a room known as the " circle- 
room," where certain mysterious phenomena known as spirit mate- 
rializations occurred ; that among other forms presenting themselves 
and identified by persons in the audience as the shapes of deceased 
friends and relatives, there appeared the figure of an Indian woman 
known as " Honto," who approached so close to deponent that he 
distinctly saw every feature of her countenance, and her entire body; 
that he is well acquainted with William H. Eddy, and avers that 
the said " Honto " bore no resemblance whatever to him in any par- 
ticular. And deponent further says, that a pair of platform scales 
being previously placed convenient to his reach, the said " Honto " 
stood thereupon four separate times for deponent to weigh her, and 
that, without having apparently changed her bulk, or divested her- 
self of any portion of her dress, she weighed respectively SS pounds, 
58 pounds, 58 pounds, and 65 pounds at the several weighings. And 
deponent further says that, having weighed the said William H. Eddy 
upon the same scales, he finds his weight to be 179 pounds. 

E. V. Pritchard. 
[Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 30th day of September, 
A. D. 1875 — H. F. Baird, Justice of the Peace.] 

In his famous first article in the Quarterly Journal of 
Science for July, 1870, Mr. Crookes, in enumerating the 



244 CROOKES ON PROOFS. 

results that he shall expect the Spiritualists to help him 

to attain, before he can ask his scientific brethren to 

investigate the phenomena, says : 

" The Spiritualist tells of bodies weighing 50 or 100 pounds being 
lifted up into the air without the intervention of any known force ; 
but the scientific chemist is accustomed to use a balance which will 
render sensible a weight so small that it would take 10,000 of them 
to weigh one grain ; he is, therefore, justified in asking that a power, 
professing to be guided by intelligence, which will toss a heavy body 
up to the ceiling, shall also cause his delicately poised balance to 
move under test conditions." 

Again, he says in the same article : 

" The first requisite is to be sure of facts ; then to ascertain con- 
ditions ; next, laws. Accuracy and knowledge of detail stand fore- 
most among the great aims of modern scientific men. No observations 
are of much use to the student of science unless they are truthful 
and made under test conditions ; and here I find the great mass of 
spiritualistic evidence to fail. In a subject which, perhaps, more 
than any other, lends itself to trickery and deception, the precautions 
against fraud appear to have been, in most cases, totally insufficient, 
owing, it would seem, to an erroneous idea that to ask for such safe- 
guards was to imply a suspicion of the honesty of some one present." 

I quote these sensible words, not to help me in my 
investigations at this place, for my researches are com- 
pleted, but to call the attention of other investigators in 
various other portions of the country who may happen to 
read these lines, to the true method which should guide 
their researches. The absolute ponderosity of a materi- 
alized spirit has at least been suggested by the weighing 
experiments at Chittenden, and it remains only for those 
who have access, say, to such compliant and intelligent 
spirits as Mr. Crookes' " Katie King," or Miss Showers' 
" Florence " and " Lenore," to make careful supplemental 
experiments, under test conditions, and thus solve one 
of the most important problems ever broached to the 
scientific world. 



: DIX'S EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA. 245 

I saw Honto, on one evening (October 15th), melt 
away as far up as her waist, just as she was ready to 
pass into the cabinet ; once I saw a long lance, with a 
tapering steel head and a tuft of drooping ostrich 
plumes below it, suddenly materialized, in the hand of 
a male [[spirit ; once, one of Honto's knitted shawls 
instantly formed, in a pile, on the floor, before she even 
stretched her hand towards the place to pick it up ; and 
once a little animal, like a squirrel or a large rat, sud-. 
denly appeared, walked about, and disappeared on the 
platform, almost frightening poor old Mrs. Cleveland 
out of her wits. If I ask Mr. Crookes to tell me by 
what law these things happen, he would undoubtedly 
answer : " Show me fifty such cases, happening under 
test conditions, and then we will weigh these things on 
our scales and try to discover the law." 

" George Dix," the sailor-spirit, tried to enlighten me 
upon the subject, one evening. He said that man, in 
his earth-life, is nothing but a materialized spirit, a 
living entity encased in a covering of flesh. To keep 
himself and this case together, he must consume and 
assimilate tons of the material portions of animal and 
vegetable food. If he stops the process he becomes 
dematerialized, or uncased, in a very brief time. On 
the other hand, spirits can do in a moment what before 
death it took them years to accomplish — materialize a 
body to cover them. In the atmosphere they find ready 
for use, an inexhaustible supply of the same matter as 
that which exists in the animal and vegetable, only in 
a diffused and sublimated form ; and by a supreme 
creative effort of the will they instantly collect the 



246 SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES RIDICULED. 

scattered particles into such shapes as they choose. 
What shall we say to all this ? That it is silly, use- 
less even if true, impossible, unscientific ? Lord Bacon 
sets it down as a law unto himself, never to " reject upon 
improbabilities until there hath passed a due examina- 
tion ; " Benjamin Franklin, when asked in regard to 
the use of some discovery, retorted : " What's the use 
of a new-born baby ? " Arago, the astronomer, says 
that " he is wanting in prudence who, outside of pure 
mathematics, pronounces the word impossible ;" forty- 
four years after Harvey had announced his immortal 
discovery of the circulation of the blood, a paper was 
read to the French Academy of Sciences to prove such 
a thing impossible (see Owen's " Footfalls on the 
Boundary of Another World," p. 93) ; and when Morse 
asked Congress for an appropriation to make a prac- 
tical test of his telegraph, the application was treated 
with derision by some wiseacre statesmen, as being too 
silly to be seriously entertained. Who, then, except our 

Dr. B s, can in the face of such examples afford to 

turn his back upon any of the phenomena presented 
for our inspection by the class of persons called 
mediums ? Who, I mean, that has any reputation for 
intelligence and fairness to lose ? 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A STARTLING PROPHECY. 

ON the evening of September 26th last, a prophecy- 
was made in a circle by the spirit " Mrs. Eaton," 
the fulfillment of which will mark an epoch 
in the history of modern Spiritualism. She said 
that on Sunday, September 19th, 1875, in the Eddy 
circle-room, spirits would materialize themselves in a 
brightly lighted room, and deliver orations as in life, 
with persons sitting all about them on the platform. 
In short, by that time they would have so far overcome 
or changed the conditions of the manifestations, that 
the present annoying drawbacks to a perfect investiga- 
tion of the phenomena would no longer exist. This 
will be very satisfactory to those who may follow after 
me, but it comes too late to be of any service to myself. 
I have had to feel my way to a conclusion through 
darkened rooms, and at such a physical distance from 
the cabinet and its occupants, that I have been like a 
blind man in a strange city. But, nevertheless, as even 
he may fare on to his journey's end, if he but tread 
cautiously and make sure of his foothold before ven- 
turing to take the next step, so, in spite of all difficulties, 



248 A TEST SUGGESTED. 

I feel as if, after moving at snail's pace for two months, 
the goal were in sight at last. 

Did ever a wiseacre " muscular contraction " theorist 
hear a spirit speak ? Has Dr. Carpenter ever known 
of " unconscious cerebration " imparting speech to a 
re-incarnated ghost ? Did Sir William Hamilton ever 
know of " Pre-conscious Activity of the Mind," or 
"Latent Thought" covering itself with a corporeal 
shape, and give voice to logic and rhetoric ? If not, 
what business has either of them, to say nothing of 
the minnows who swim beside these great whales in 
the sea of thought, to pronounce ex cathedra judgment 
upon phenomena of which these Chittenden marvels 
are a part ? I have heard a spirit talk— yes, a score of 
them, and in eight different languages, of which I under- 
stood three, so as to know what was said on both sides, 
while I have had the others translated to me. And on 
the evening of October 2d I heard one make a speech 
of five minutes. That afternoon, I had accompanied 
the artist to the graveyard to take a sketch of Mrs. 
Eddy's grave, and as we turned to come away I 
remarked to him, that it would be a good test of the 
genuineness of these Eddy manifestations, if the spirit 
of Mrs. Eddy would appear that night and make some 
allusion to our present visit. We agreed to keep the 
matter to ourselves and see what might come of it. 

We reached home without meeting any person, and 
even if we had been seen, it would naturally be supposed 
that we had merely been taking one of our usual strolls. 
The evening came, and we met in the circle-room at the 
regular hour. The company numbered fourteen, and 



A SPIRIT-ORATOR. 249 

nine spirits showed themselves. The first was old 
William Brown, who spoke a few words to his son ; 
then a middle-aged lady named Maria Ann Clarke, 
dressed in dark clothing; then a Mrs. Griswold, who 
was murdered in Vermont not long ago, and who, upon 
the occasion of a former visit to this circle-room, gave 
all the details of the crime to an old friend of hers, a 
Mr. Wilkins, who was present. Then forth stepped Mrs. 
Eddy herself, and stood there silent and motionless, 
looking at the artist and myself, who sat together. 
She bowed and retired, and we exchanged glances as" 
though not satisfied with the test; but immediately the 
spirit returned, and evidently addressing her discourse 
to us, said : " Death, where is thy sting ? Grave, where 
is thy victory ?" I had expected her to speak in the 
whispered accents of old Mrs. Pritchard, Maggie Brown, 
and certain other lady-spirits, but she pitched her voice 
so high and spoke so loud, that she might have been 
heard in the largest auditorium in New York city. 

The surprise was so great that the unexpected sound 
thrilled me to the marrow, and I sat staring through 
the gloom at the woman as I never did at a speaker 
before or since. She was of a large frame, and had the 
ample figure that is represented in the portrait pub- 
lished with a former chapter. She wore a white waist 
and dark skirt. Her hair was in ringlets, as I discov- 
ered when she bent forward in profile, in the animation 
of her discourse. She said, addressing me : " Your 
writings are true, and be assured the Truth will prevail. 
A thousand spirits are watching your every step, and 
wishing you Godspeed. They see the rapid spread of 
Truth upon earth ; and they and a countless host besides 



250 MRS. EDDY'S OPINIONS. 

are helping it on. Go on, my friend ; we will welcome 
you in gratitude and joy when you come to the other 
world, for daring to tell the truth, and helping to dis- 
seminate it. I thank you for your kindness to my chil- 
dren, who have suffered so much and so long for the 
good cause." It is needless to say that, barring all 
compliments, I needed no stenographer to fix upon my 
memory this astounding address, of which I have given 
only a fragment. She spoke of her own sufferings and 
trials upon earth, and denounced with bitter and 
unstinted anger all who slander and persecute mediums, 
especially her own children. Her remarks showed 
very clearly the deep, and hardly eradicable impression 
made upon her soul by the treatment she received while 
living here, and the case offers a subject for the thought- 
ful consideration of psychologists. 

As the question of personal identity is one of para- 
mount importance, at any rate in a case of this kind, 
let me remark that the figure was plainly that of a 
woman, to say nothing of the voice, which, while par- 
taking of the strong Vermont provincial accent of the 
whole family, was sharp and in a high key — the key of 
a female voice. Moreover, the lady was recognized by 
sundry of her former acquaintances in the room, who 
greeted her ; in addition to her children, of whom, 
there were two present. I have seen this lady several 
times, and heard her make several speeches. In one of 
these she said : " I am the mother of these mediums, 
and they are the children of my body. I want this 
understood. I want it known that this is no fraud, but 
a real exhibition of spirit-power and spiritual existence. 



SPIH I T-D YNA MICS. 253 

It is for that, that I come back to this scene of my 
earthly sufferings." Again, on the evening of October 
9th, confining her discourse to me, she referred to a 
conversation I had had that day with the artist about 
certain subjects for illustrations, and suggested her 
death-bed scene, where, she said, her children in the 
spirit-world had materialized, and stood beside their 
surviving brothers and sisters, while her own life was 
ebbing away. 

My attention was early called to the question of the 
dynamics of these Eddy spirit manifestations, and 
after settling the matter of their weight, I determined 
to attempt to throw some light upon the direct power 
that the spirits could exert. The spring-balance 
occurred to me, as it did to Mr. Crookes (whose excel- 
lent pamphlet I unfortunately could not obtain until 
some time after my own experiments were concluded), 

and I accordingly procured two of 's standard 

quality, of Mr. L. G. Kingsley, of Rutland, the house 
that furnished me the platform-scales, each of a weigh- 
ing capacity of fifty pounds. I wished to test the 
power of the detached hands seen in Horatio's light- 
circle, as the demonstration of power by them would 
be a more striking and satisfactory test than in the case 
of the fully materialized forms, into which the ques- 
tion of personation was inevitably more or less 
entangled. 

Let the reader refer to the sketch of the light-circle, 
in the Xllth chapter, and notice the relative positions of 
-,„ the shawl from the railing, and also where the spirit- 
hand is thrust through the shawl, and where the feet 



254 POWER OF THE SPIRIT-HAND. 

of the sitters are aligned. My experiment was two- 
fold, viz, : to ascertain how much the hands could pull 
horizontally, and how much vertically. One of the 
balances I fastened with a stout cord to the handrail, 
allowing a sufficiency of cord to bring the hook of the 
balance within easy reach of the spirit-hand ; this was 
for the horizontal pull. The other I attached to a 
strong ring, made for the purpose, and screwed into the 
floor, just between the left foot of the gentleman sitter 
and the right foot of the medium. The horizontal pull 
was tried on the evening of September 30th. The 
audience numbered twenty-six persons. The weather 
outside was rainy and blustering ; temperature low ; 
ten new arrivals that day ; and generally the conditions 
would be regarded as unfavorable. The persons sitting 
beside Horatio were Mr. Goodsell, of Minnesota, and 
Mr. Wilkins, of Vermont, whose addresses can be fur- 
nished if desired. Some instrument-playing and card- 
writing occurred, and the guitar, tambourine, and sev- 
eral bells were thrown over the curtain ; after which a 
left hand was thrust out, and by the opening and clos- 
ing of the fingers, indicated to me, standing close by, 
that they were ready for my experiment. 

I stepped upon the platform and handed the hook 
to the hand, which grasped it, moved its fingers on and 
off the hook to get a firm hold, as any one naturally 
would, if he were about to exert his full force in that 
way, and then easily, steadily, and without spasmodic action, 
compressed the spring until the pointer ran down to the 40 
pound mark. To prove that the force had not been 
exhausted, the spring was held there until I reached 



L 



PULLING THE SPRING-BALANCE. 257 

out my hand to take back the balance, and then was 
allowed to recoil as gradually as it had been com- 
pressed. Forty pounds, therefore, was the measure of 
the horizontal pull. The hand was the left one — large, 
broad, and white. I stood within a foot of it when it 
pulled, and my attention was attracted to a peculiarity 
which proved that it did not belong to Horatio's body. 
Upon the wrist, at the root of the thumb, there were two 
thin parallel lines of tattooing in blue India ink. Horatio 
exclaimed, while the spirit was pulling, that it was 
bracing itself for it by pressing the other hand 
against his (Horatio's) back ; and he gave way to the 
pressure and leaned slightly forward, as if this were 
the case. If he had been pulling, he would naturally 
have leaned back, so as to exert his force against the 
spring. 

The vertical pull was made on the evening of Octo- 
ber 2d, when I myself sat next to Horatio in the light- 
circle. The hand to-night was the right hand of 
" George Dix," as I recognized by its mutilation in the 
loss of the little finger. It has been asserted, upon the 
barest suspicion, that this appearance of the loss of the 
finger is deceptive, the medium having the trick of 
bending his down so as to seem, but not in reality to 
be missing. My answer to this is that this experiment 
was made with this hand not more than six inches from 
my eyes, and with so good a light in the room that I 
could read the small figures on the dial with ease. 
Moreover, I noticed how the skin was drawn down 
into the cavity of the cicatrix, when the wound had 
healed. I, furthermore, remarked that the hand was as 



258 THE VERTICAL PULL. 

white as marble, the wrist broad and with no depression 
where it joined the hand ; and when the fingers clutched 
the hook to pull, the inside was partially turned toward 
me so that I could see the blue veins half concealed 
beneath the fat, and the projection of the tendons as 
they contracted in the strain. The pull was steady, as 
before, but more powerful, for the whole 50 pounds was 
indicated by the pointer on the dial. The balance was 
then relinquished, and in testimony of his satisfaction 
at the result, Dix slapped me heartily on the back and 
tickled me in the ribs. I said : " It seems as if the 
spirit could pull 100 pounds more, if the apparatus 
would allow of it," and assent was given by vigorous 
pounding upon the table behind me. 

Mr. Charles Goodsell's address is Howard Lake, 
Wright Co. Minn , and he writes me as follows, about 
the light-circle at which the above events occurred : 

" If you recollect, I was sitting beside Horatio, when you first tried 
the power of the materialized Hand which pulled the spring-balance; 
The indicator showed that it pulled forty pounds. I know that I 
held Horatio by the left hand, while his right clasped my wrist. I 
am positive that it was a left hand that hooked the middle finger in. 
to the hook of the balance, and pulled. Furthermore, two hands 
reached out and patted me on the head and shoulders. While my 
hands were clasping Horatio's, the iron ring was put upon his left 
arm, and slipped down on to the back of my left hand." 

If I had been in any doubt about seeing the baby- 
hand, previously described, there was no occasion for 
it to continue, for on this occasion the hand of a child 
touched me in the back, and upon my mentally request- 
ing it to show itself, was thrust out and patted me on 
the cheek. It disappeared, but when I mentally asked 
{hat it might be held at my lips, it came again, and 



THE RING TEST. 259 

remained there until I could kiss it (for it was said that 
it was the hand of one who bore to me the tenderest 
of ties). Several other hands, large and small, women's 
and men's, wrote cards before my eyes, each being 
closely scrutinized as it appeared. My senses were 
wide awake, beyond all question, for this was the first 
opportunity given me to sit with the medium, in a 
whole month's sojourn in the house, and I determined 
that no detail, however slight, should be overlooked. 

I was more than glad to be able to satisfy myself wholly 
as to the famous " ring test," the philosophy of which 
the mediums, the Spiritualists, and the spirits themselves 
had tried to explain to me. I had seen the thing done 
in the light a number of times, the ring dropping from 
off Horatio's arm, as he sat before me with his hands 
bound ; but all this was not entirely satisfactory to one 
who was furnishing to a wide circle of readers the mate- 
rials for the formation of belief, and whose duty was to 
make no mistake. When the ring test was about to be 
given, I was requested by the medium to take both his 
hands in mine and keep a firm hold. It must be remem- 
bered that, up to this moment, he had been grasping my 
bared left arm with his two hands. At the beginning of 
the seance his hands were very cold, but I noticed that 
they gradually grew warmer, until, just before the ring- 
test, a shiver ran through his frame, a sudden chill passed 
into them and they became icy cold. I never felt hands 
so cold before, except upon a corpse that had been laid 
in ice. 

Our hands crossed, my right holding his right, and his 
left my left. The iron ring used for the experiment 



260 THE RING TEST CONTINUED. 

was then exhibited through the shawl by another hand, so 
that all could see it, and then dropped upon the floor at 
my feet, striking it with a metallic sound, and rolling off 
the platform. After all who chose had had an oppor- 
tunity to examine it, it was passed back, and taken behind 
the curtain by the detached hand. I then felt an arm and 
shoulder pressing against my back, as I sat touching the 
edge of the table behind me, and the ring, and a cold 
hand that held it touched the bare, warm skin of my left 
forearm. Another tremendous shock ran through the 
medium's body, and instantly the iron ring slid down 
from his arm over my right wrist and hung there. 
There was just distance enough between our arms for 
the large ring to touch both his and mine, and at the 
moment of the shock, it seemed to me that the side of the 
ring next to Horatio's, dissolved into a vapor, while the 
one next to mine remained solid, for it moved away from 
my skin directly through his arm, or else opened so as to 
permit his to pass through its own substance, and the 
next instant it dangled upon my wrist. 

This is an astounding story, I know, but everything 
happened just as described. I neither relaxed my hold 
upon his hands for an instant, nor lost sight of the small- 
est detail of the experiment. I was neither psycholo- 
gized nor deceived, and no theory of " muscular contrac- 
tion " is sufficient to explain or cover the facts. The 
explanation given to me of the phenomenon by a spirit 
is that, the medium's system being negative and the sit- 
ter's positive, a strong current of a fluid, which, for lack 
of a better name, they call refined electricity, is sent 
through from the one to the other, and as It passes 




THE RING TEST. 



THE HARDENING OP COPPER. 263 

through the intermediate metal, being obliged to escape 
at the poles, it overcomes the cohesion of the particles, 
and the solid is changed into a vapor. By suddenly 
reversing this process, the substance is re-solidified, and 
the ring becomes as it was before. They claim that they 
have the same control over the cohesion of the particles 
of our gross matter as they have over what we term grav- 
ity ; that is, that by an exercise of their own subtle power 
they can as readily dissolve a solid as they can lift it. 
Let every one do as he likes with the explanation : I give 
it as it was received. 

I must say that I felt no shock whatever at any time, 
but perhaps, being so positive as they say I am, the thing 
worked the other way, and the medium got a charge of 
my surplus "magnetism." 

One night " Mayflower told me, as an evidence of the 
superior knowledge of the spirits, that she herself could 
harden and weld copper, and make a small machine that 
would lift the house we were in, as easily as I could my 
hat. When I asked her why she would not impart some 
of her knowledge for the benefit of the world, her reply 
was that, when our men of science got so far progressed 
as to lose their empty conceit, and discover that they 
hardly knew the alphabet of science, and were prepared 
to learn, these and many more important discoveries 
would reward them. We must hasten slowly on our path 
up the Parnassian hill, learning, little by little, and as the 
child acquires by degrees to creep, walk, and run, all that 
goes to make up the sum of human knowledge. 

There was another, and unsolicited, exhibition of spirit- 
power this evening. In the corner of the recess behind 



264 CALCULATION OF POWER. 

Horatio stood an extra chair, which had not been noticed 
when the shawls were hung. During the seance this 
chair was lifted perpendicularly twice or three times 
directly behind Horatio's head, so as to show above the 
top of the curtain, and it was at last surmised that they 
desired to have it taken away ; so William Eddy, who was 
standing near by, took it from the invisible holder. The 
perpendicular height of the lift and weight of the chair 
being ascertained, I allowed two seconds as the time con- 
sumed in the raising, and then made the following calcu- 
lation, to arrive at the measure of force exerted : 

Chair weighed 8 3-4 pounds. 

Perpendicular height 5 feet 5 inches. 

Time (estimated) 2 seconds. 

1 horse power is 33,000 pounds lifted 1 foot in 1 minute ; conse- 
quently 

8.75 x 30 x 5.16 1,354-5° 33.°°o-:- I .354-50 = 24.36, or nearly 
one-quarter of a horse power. 

Next to Honto, and old Mr. Brown, the talking spirit, 
who usually open and close the seances, the spirit I have 
most frequently seen is that of the mother of Mr. Prit- 
chard, of Albany ; who has been recognized over and over 
again, not only by him, but by his sister and her grand- 
children, some of whom have been invited to come up 
to the platform and receive the old lady's embraces and 
blessings. She almost always speaks, sometimes address- 
ing a few sentences to the audience, but usually confining 
her remarks to her own friends. Her materialization is, 
all in all, the most satisfactory I have ever seen, for there 
have been so many and satisfactory opportunities to be 
satisfied of her identity. Her son is an elderly gentle- 
man, whose height I have verified as five feet five inches 
scant. His mother has frequently made him stand beside 




XottTO MdMSR/uph> 



■HoHTOAhM^CUYELMD, 



COMPARING HEIGHTS. 



IDIOSYNCRASIES AS TESTS. 267 

her, and then called our attention to their respective 
statures. 

One night, I got Mr. Pritchard to place her back against 
my scale, and he reported her height as just five feet ; 
which I am satisfied is correct, as he is almost, if not 
quite, a full head taller. On the evening of September 
27th she seated herself in a chair by her son's side, and 
held a long private conversation with him about a pro- 
jected visit of her daughter, Mrs. Packard, of Albany, to 
Chittenden. They were both absorbed in themselves, 
and I noticed the old lady fingering her white muslin 
apron in a peculiar manner, with both hands, pinching it 
up little by little into folds, until she reached the bottom 
hem, and then, smoothing it out, beginning the same 
trick again. Upon calling Mr. Pritchard's attention to 
this after the seance, he told me that this was an old 
habit of his mother's in life, and would serve to identify 
her spirit to any of her former acquaintances. She could 
sit in this way, he said, by the hour, while interested in 
conversation, pinching up and smoothing out her apron 
in an absent-minded fashion; just as some persons tie 
strings around their fingers, and others tear paper into 
bits. 

My old chemical professor used to sit in his laboratory 
and lecture to me, keeping the thread of his thought 
together by cutting foolscap into strips, which he would 
proceed to roll into spills and then toss away. A certain 
other friend of mine, the handsome young president of 
a New York insurance company, has the trick of cutting 
up all the envelopes on his desk, with a business-like air, 
as though he intended to put the scraps to an important 



268 IMPORTANT TRIFLES. 

use ; but they are finally divided into square bits and 
litter the floor of his office. If I should see the return- 
ing shade of either of these persons, in a room even 
darker than the Eddy hall, I think I should recognize 
them all the easier by the exhibition of these little habits 
which were so closely identified in my mind with their 
earthly selves. 

These unconsidered trifles go farther towards proof of 
the identity of the appearing spirits, than even the pro- 
nunciation of names, or the giving of information about 
affairs within the knowledge of the sitter. No theory of 
probabilities appears broad enough to cover the chance 
of William Eddy's perfecting the details of a personation 
to such minuteness as to imitate little, personal tricks and 
habits, too unimportant to be remarked by any but those 
who are on the most intimate terms with the one simu- 
lated, and, at the same time, too trivial to be suggested 
in advance of their occurrence, even to the minds of such. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A CHAPTER OF MARVELS. 

WHILE the portions of this narrative that 
appeared in the Daily Graphic were running 
through the columns of that paper, I received 
so many letters of encouragement from all parts of the 
country, from total strangers, and so many kind things 
were said, in so many journals of all classes, that as the 
end of that series approached, I naturally felt a profound 
regret at parting with my public. 

This feeling is, I believe, common to all authors 
deeply interested in their work, and on good terms 
with their readers ; but when one is discussing so 
serious a matter as the re-appearance and re-union of 
those who have been parted by death, the topic enlists 
the author's sympathies in a degree exceeding all others. 
He feels that he has the same reason for getting at the 
truth as any one of his readers, for one law overrules 
all alike, and one destiny must be shared in common. 
These numerous tokens of regard that I have received 
have not only stimulated me in the work in hand, but 
also afforded a marked proof of the deep interest that 



270 RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR. 

prevails in the subject we have been discussing. I wish 
from the bottom of my heart that I could give to the 
bereaved ones who have appealed to me, that consola- 
tion which they so eagerly crave ; that I could allay 
their doubts and encourage their hopes ; but my whole 
usefulness as an investigator would be destroyed by 
my assuming the part of propagandist. 

When I refer again to the notes upon my table — 
from mothers imploring me for comfort in affliction 
that seems irremediable ; from pious daughters, mourn- 
ing the loss of parents ; from parted lovers who feel a 
blessed assurance that the sting of death and grave's 
victory will have passed away, if I can only demonstrate 
the genuineness of these phenomena, a sense of the 
deep and heavy responsibility resting upon me, to weigh 
every apparent fact, and challenge every phenomenon, 
until the truth be discovered, comes over me. - 

Let me illustrate by giving an extract from a letter 
from a stranger lady, which stands as the type of a whole 
class. Observe its tender feeling, its loving anxiety of 
tone, its reliance upon my opinion whether there is balm 
in Gilead for the wounded heart within her breast : 

" I make no apology for addressing you, save this : I am a mother 
mourning the loss of an only child ; — hungering and thirsting for an 
echo from the voice that always had a welcome for "Mamma;' — 
longing for the familiar touch of little hands that have been quiet 
for one whole year. 

May I ask if you think the Eddy family would allow me to visit 
their place — in fact, to become a boarder in their house for a week, 
or perhaps longer ? 

And do you think my little girl could really come to me there i 
It seems to me that I could be almost happy once more, if I could 
see, for one brief moment, my little, brown-haired, brown-eyed dar- 
ling, just as she was before her last illness. 

Dear Colonel Olcott, will you not write me how to proceed in the 



SPIRIT OF AN ARAB. 271 

matter? I think I can speak for the whole army of mourning 
mothers. They will, some day, ' arise and call you blessed.' " 

Poor, dear lady ! what can I say to such an appeal, 
except that my researches promise not to end in dis- 
appointment ; that there is reason to believe that it is 
possible for her to see her child again ; that I have seen 
several other mothers weeping with joy, in the circle- 
room, at the sight of their beloved ones, whom they 
thought shut out from their sight forever, by the earth 
that was packed above their coffin-lids. 

I know I have never assumed the office of teacher, 
and that on the contrary I have ever disclaimed being 
anything more than a collector of facts and observer 
of phenomena — leaving every one to form his or her 
opinions as they choose ; but here are scores of people 
among my correspondents, representing, no doubt, 
hundreds of others, who rely upon my facts to do that 
very thing. So, I must tread cautiously. 

The spirits whose appearances have been thus far 
described were either Indians, or whites of American or 
European lineage. Up to the 2d of October, I had never 
seen one of any other nationality, but on that evening 
there appeared an Arab, who was an old friend of a lady 
well known in magazine literature as "Aunt Sue." He 
was of short stature, slight and wiry build, and his very 
salaam to the lady, when recognized, was in marked con- 
trast with the constrained bows of the Indians, and the 
more or less ungraceful salutations of the whites. His 
name is Yusef. He was dressed in a white tunic, gathered 
at the waist by a sash, and the skirt ornamented with 
three equidistant bands of red, of the same width. On 



272 ASHAMED OF HER NAME. 

his head was the national fez, and in his sash was thrust 
a weapon of some kind, which I could not see distinctly. 
A number of questions propounded to him were answered 
by respectful bows, and his parting obeisance was of that 
deferential, but at the same time self-respecting, character 
that is peculiar to the people of the Orient. 

Five Indians—" Black Swan's Mother," " Bright Star," 
"Daybreak," "White Feather" (who wore so long a 
plume in his hair that it was bent by the door-casing as 
he bowed his head to pass through), and " Santum " — 
had preceded him, following Mrs. Eddy, whose address I 
referred to in the chapter preceding this, and one, " Swift 
Cloud," came after, so that a most favorable opportunity 
was afforded to note the contrast between his manners 
and deportment and those of our aborigines. The seance 
was closed, as usual, by old Mr. Brown, who had some 
talk with his son about a new house he was erecting, and 
then departed. But, returning after a moment, he 
addressed a woman present, who, it appeared, had come 
under a false name, and whose spirit-daughter had 
appeared to her the evening before, and asked : " Was 

that child, , your daughter ? " The mother said it 

was. " What is her other name ? " asked the inquisitive 
spirit. The woman hesitated a moment, and then faltered 
out " Smith." "Well," said he, " I hope she may never 
feel as if she had to deny her name," and was gone. This 
thing happened several times during my visit, so it will 
be as well for persons who are ashamed to give their right 
names to stay away from Chittenden. 

In the dark-circle of this same evening I had another 
volunteer exhibition of spirit-power that ought to puzzle 



AN " EXTRA STRONG BA TTER Y." 273 

skeptics less self-complacent than our muscular-contrac- 
tionists. My weighing-scales were standing on the plat- 
form, at the right of the cabinet, where the experiment 
with Honto was tried. We had had some music from 
Mayflower and the spirit-band of unusual sweetness, and 
the little girl — whom I never can mention without a 
feeling of affection, so child-like and lovable is her nature 
— had made a ludicrous failure with her rhyming improv- 
isations upon "Music," "Pictures," and "War and 
Peace," when Dix said that if we would all remain quiet 
for a few minutes and the violinist would play something, 
he would try to organize an extra strong " battery." His 
directions were followed, and for a while no sound was 
heard except the dolorous rasp of the instrument. Little 
Mayflower passed along the front row and laid her guitar 
on each one's lap, and presently we had an Indian dance 
such as I described in a previous chapter. 

Then I knew, from a rattling and banging of my plat- 
form-scale, that something new was about to happen. It 
was moved along the whole length of the platform with 
such a noise that I thought to myself I would have a 
pretty bill of damages to pay the next morning, but the 
thought was hardly formed before George Dix, with a 
laugh, said : " Don't worry, Mr. Olcott ; I won't hurt 
your scales ; " and he fell to whistling and tugging at the 
dead weight, like a jolly stevedore working among a cargo 
of cotton. The scale reached the steps, and then went 
bumping down to the floor of the room, and was rolled 
to a point near the medium's chair, where it stopped. We 
heard some one step upon the platform and the beam 
kick against the pad, as though a heavy weight were on 



274 WEIGHING DIX A ND MA YFL WER. 

it. George said, " I guess I'll see how much I weigh; " 
and then, after running the poise along the notches and 
changing one counterpoise weight for another, reported 
163 pounds. I asked him how tall he was, and he 
replied 5 feet 8 inches. We then heard Mayflower's 
voice, saying, " Now weigh me, George," and his answer, 
" All right : get on ; " and another and lighter person was 
heard to mount the platform, and the noise of weighing, 
with another change of counterpoise weights, was followed 
by a call for a light. This being struck, Mr. Poole, of 
New Jersey, and Mr. Wilkins, of Vermont, who had acted 
as a committee on our behalf to tie Horatio, first exam- 
ined the ropes, and found him just as he had been left, and 
then stepped to the scale with the candle, and announced 
the beam as marking forty pounds. But the medium, 
speaking in the voice of a spirit known as "French 
Mary," said, "No; it is thirty-eight pounds;" which, 
upon a second and closer look, with the candle held 
nearer, they found to be so. Now, if any one chooses to 
say that the medium knew the weight because he had 
handled it himself, it will be necessary for him to account 
for: 

1. The fact that after the weighing he was bound as 
tightly and identically the same as he was by the com- 
mittee before the room was darkened; and, 

2. How, supposing that he could unbind and re-bind 
himself, which I deny, he could run the poise along the 
scale-beam in a pitchy dark room to a certain notch, 
and be able to correct an unexpected error of the com- 
mittee. The experiment was to me very interesting as 
furnishing evidence either of the great force at the 



SEANCE IN THE RECErTION-ROOM. 



275 



command of the spirits, as well as their ability to see 
in the dark, or, of some one's being able, instantly upon 
the lighting of the candle, to convey the correct read- 
ing of the figures to the mind of the medium. The 
following diagram will show the route traveled by the 
scales ; the entire distance was 33 ft. 6 inches. 

The following night's seance was to my mind the 
most satisfactory, as a test, of any held during my visit 




in one respect, viz. : that it proved that neither the hall 
up-stairs, nor the hollow platform, nor the cabinet 
floor, nor that mysterious window, that has so troubled 
the souls of many superficial "skeptics," had anything 
to do with the manifestations. Just before the usual 
hour of assembly, finding the Eddy boys in an unusually 
tractable mood, I proposed that for once we should 
hold our sitting in the reception-room, where we were 
gathered about the stove. This being assented to with- 
out hesitancy, the old shawl that hangs over the cabinet 
door was brought down, the rough mattress, and some 
working clothes upon the wall of a dark closet under 
the stairs, were removed, and we were ready to begin 
the seance. 

The reader will understand the position of affairs by 
glancing over the following ground-plan : 



276 



THE GROUND-PLAN. 



A is the sitting or reception room : B is a small dark 
bedroom, running under the stairs that lead to the 



[3 



M 





second story ; C is the front hall ; E, steps leading to 
cellar ; F, William Eddy's bedroom, opening only into 
the dining-room (G) ; H, the door from sitting-room 
to dining-room. 

The room or closet B measures 9 feet 2 inches by 5 
feet 3 inches, with a ceiling 8 feet high — narrow quar- 
ters for a person to sleep in, and, with the door shut, a 
place that ought to be fatal to any pair of lungs that 
had ever been accustomed to a breath of fresh air. 
And yet this is where " Joe," the pugnacious but musical 
farm-hand, whom every visitor will recollect, takes his 
nightly repose. There is no window here, at any rate, 
to awaken the suspicions of the wary psychologist, or 
demand of me a covering of sealed mosquito-netting ; 
and I conclude that if the spirits should show them- 
selves there, the fact would go a long way towards mak- 
ing out my case. 



THORO UGH EXAMINA TION. 277 

Just before the shawl was hung, William insisted on 
my coming into the den to examine it in any way I 
pleased, but as I had already breathed its fetid atmos- 
phere on another occasion, when I measured it and 
sounded its walls and floor, I wished to decline. He 
would take no denial, however, and so, lamp in hand, I 
went in and made a general survey. There was noth- 
ing to be seen but the bare floor and walls; and, run- 
ning my hands over William's clothing under the 
laughing pretext of magnetizing him, I enabled myself 
to assure the reader that he had nothing concealed 
about his person. The shawl-curtain was arranged 
and we then took our seats in an arc that stretched from 
the hall-door to that leading into the dining-room. My 
post was in the crown of the arc, right opposite, and 
not more than eight or nine feet from the " cabinet " 
door. The lamp was placed on a shelf in the chimney, 
at the south-east corner of the room and gave a very 
fair light. 

We had not long to wait, for, after the lapse of a very 
few minutes, the shawl was lifted and out jumped Honto, 
as lively as a squirrel. She was dressed in a light suit 
throughout, with a scarf about her waist, and her hair 
hanging loose down her back. She stepped to the 
dining-room door, lifted the latch and threw it open ; then 
began capering about in her usual way, as if she were in 
fine spirits. Shawl after shawl she twitched from old 
Mrs. Cleveland's and Mr. Pritchard's feet and shoulders ; 
astonishing them as much each time as Hermann does 
the victim he entraps into " assisting " him in his magical 
entertainments. Then she stepped to the right of the 



278 WONDERFUL FEATS OF HON TO. 

cabinet door, and stood just opposite me, looking intently 

upon the floor, by the mop-board. There was nothing to 

be seen at first but the bare planks, but, presto ! as I 

watched, I suddenly saw a heap of something black, as 

it might be a piece of a woman's dress or a quantity of 

black netting. She stretched out her hand, and daintily 

picked it up with thumb and forefinger, held it open, and 

it was — one of her shawls ! Thus, within a few feet of 

my nose, she exhibited the whole process of materializing 

fabrics, and left me in a very pleased mood, as may be 

imagined. 

In the report of the London Dialectical Society on 

Spiritualism, at page 328, in the testimony of Miss Anna 

Blackwell before the committee, occurs the following : 

Under the second head (that is to say, the command of the spirits 
of the " fluids" and " forces" that make up the totality of planetary 
existence) may be classed the evanescent appearance of hands, faces, 
birds, animals, flowers, &c, which are produced by a condensation 
out of the atmosphere, of the material elements of these pseudo- 
formations, to which, by the application of the electro-vital force in 
modes not yet known to us, spirits are able to impart a temporary 
vitality, but which, having no soul, are without consciousness or last- 
ing coherence, and dissolve into their original elements on the cessa- 
tion of the currents that determined their formation. Lady D 

assures me that a " magnificent white flower, as large as a dinner 
plate, and with long purple stamens," suddenly appeared on a chair 
close beside her, one evening, as she sat in her drawing-room in com- 
pany with Mr. Home ; it remained visible to them both for about 
two minutes, when " it melted into the air." 

At page 332, in describing the apparition of a dark- 
haired man, who passed into the solid wall in her pres- 
ence, she adds : 

Spirits say that the compact matter of our sphere of Relation, is as 
imperceptible, for them, as the fluidic matter of their sphere is for 
us, and that they only become cognizant of it, and able to act upon 
it, through our minds and organisms. 



SUBJECT FOR THE ARTIST. - 281 

Honto was followed by old Mrs. Pritchard, who was 
dressed, as usual, in her grayish frock, and white apron 
and kerchief, and who had some pleasant words for her 
son. 

Then appeared a charming young woman carrying a 
child, who was recognized by her sister as Mrs. Josephine 
Dow, late of Chittenden township. She died twenty- 
four years ago at the r.ge of nineteen. , Her robe was 
pure white and flowing, gathered in at the waist by a 
string, so that the folds of the upper part lay over it after 
a very classical fashion. Her auburn hair fell in a mass 
over her shoulders, and as she stood there petting the 
child, I thought I had never seen a prettier sight in all 
my visit. She stepped back into the cabinet, whereupon 
the voice of Mrs. Eaton said : " Mr. Olcott, this is the 
subject we have selected for the artist's picture. The 
spirit will now return without the child, so that Mr. Kappes 
may take a good look at her " — and back she came, 
alone, and stood at the right of the curtain, with her 
right arm crossed over her waist and her left hanging by 
her side, looking the artist full in the face. Mrs. Eaton 
said that the spirit came back alone because it took so 
much extra power to materialize the baby, that the spirit 
herself was made too weak to stop out long enough to 
give us a thorough view of her own form. Blake, the 
Irish painter, used to see spirits invisible to all other eyes, 
sitting to him for their portraits in his studio when he 
was alone, but did any one ever hear before of a materi- 
alized spirit coming for the purpose to an artist, in the 
presence of a mixed company of fifteen persons? 

After the "Madonna and Child," (as I felt like christening 



282 ENDORSEMENT OF OUR ENGRA VINGS. 

our models,) we saw the spirit of William Packard, 
late of Albany, and grandson of old Mrs. Pritchard, who 
seemed so disposed to make friends with the artist that, 
at that gentleman's request, he moved quite far along 
the wall to the right, where his figure was thrown into 
high relief by the light-colored paper hangings. His 
face was round, and he wore a long black moustache. 
His costume comprised a dark sack-coat and dark panta- 
loons, a single-breasted vest, and white shirt with collar, 
quite different from William's, who wore his ordinary 
checked gingham shirt, without collar or cuffs. 

We were then delighted to see the mysterious Mrs, 
Eaton herself, whose shrill voice we had so often heard 
issue from the cabinet up-stairs. She was a little, old, 
wrinkled woman, in an old-fashioned muslin mob-cap 
with a ribbon about the crown, a grayish dress, and a 
check woolen shoulder-shawl, with its points crossed over 
her bosom. She advanced two or three feet from the 
curtain, and looking at me, said that she had seen our 
picture of "The Phantom Carriage," and could suggest 
no improvement, as it was true to nature. I expressed 
my pleasure at seeing her in person, hearing her speak, 
and seeing her lips move, for it was now unquestionable 
that the voice up-stairs was hers and not the medium's. 
She said that it was for that very purpose she had mate- 
rialized herself, and that the spirit-band controlling these 
manifestations had desired the change for that evening to 
the lower room. She and they knew how anxious I was 
for such tests as would satisfy myself and the world, of 
the genuineness of the phenomena, and desired to further 
my wishes ; but they, like ourselves, were subject to the 



ALMOST FORCED INTO BELIEF. 283 

conditions around them, and where a circle was constantly 
changing, and never the same two evenings in succession, 
they could not do all that either I demanded or they 
wished. 

After her, came out an old, gentlemanly-looking man, 
with a fine, intellectual head. His silver locks were 
brushed from either ear towards his crest, as if to con- 
ceal his baldness. He was dressed in a well-cut black 
coat, buttoned up high, and pantaloons to match. He 
spoke in a low voice in answer to a question from his 
relative present, who afterwards informed me that he for- 
merly lived at Davenport, N. Y., where he died thirty- 
nine years ago, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. 

Our next visitor was Augusta , a child of fourteen, 

who was clothed in a white dress, and sweetly smiled and 
recognized her mother, who sat next to me. 

The last form to appear, was Jeremiah McCready, late 
of Cayuga County, N. Y., whose materialization was very 
strong and satisfactory ; and this brought to a close, a most 
remarkable and satisfactory evening's entertainment. 

I can hardly express the relief I experienced at the 
result of this seance. Convinced as I had long been 
of the good faith of William Eddy ; satisfied as my 
reason was that it was a physical impossibility for the 
man to simulate such a variety of forms — making him- 
self at one moment a patriarch of eighty or a tottering 
grandmother, and the next, a babe in arms or a tod- 
dling child of three or four years; now a giant Indian 
chief or a dancing squaw, and anon, a roving spears- 
man of the plain of Ararat or a bronze-faced fellah from 
the foot of the Pyramids; twisting his inflexible tongue 



284 PLASTERED WALLS UNAVAILING. 

around the gutturals, nasals, and sibilants of numerous 
languages, that certainly nobody outside of the Orien- 
tal Society or some occasional Dominie Sampson had 
mastered; convinced, I say, as I was upon all these 
points — that ventilating window, hollow platform, and 
seven-by-two cabinet forced themselves oftener than I 
liked between my mental vision and the bald facts. 

I confess to a feeling closely akin to astonishment 
when Honto, the self-same copper-colored squaw, the 
pipe-smoking, shawl-weaving, dancing, laughing 
Honto, stepped out and confronted me. It seemed that 
it would be next to impossible for enough of the spirit- 
ual matter-essence to filter through that plastered wall, 
for these cunning electro-platers to make a covering 
withal for their filmy shapes. But there she was, sure 
enough, in full form — with no detail of her dress lack- 
ing, no lock of her massive suit of hair gone ; her fig- 
ure as plump, her motions as supple, her attitudes as 
wildly statuesque as ever before. When she had 
passed away from our sight, I awaited the coming of 
the next spirit with eager attention, for even then, it 
seemed to me that it could not be possible for another 
to materialize itself. Honto was the familiar spirit of 
the medium, or somehow attached to and, as it were, 
enameled upon the family, so that she could do impos- 
sibilities that no one else from the other world could. 

But, in the midst of my doubts and mistrust, there 
came the gray-white apparition of old Mrs. Pritchard, 
the very starch in her apron and cap seeming as if 
it were crisp from the laundry. Then, I think, the 
conviction formed itself that, no matter how many 




YusEr.^e^=3TT^ 



SPIRIT-FORMS. 



I 



THE BABY-CIIOST UNMISTAKABLE. 287 

"skeptics" came battering against these granitic facts, 
no matter what array of " exposers " might blow their 
tin-horns and penny-trumpets, that Jericho would 
stand. Then I said to myself, that if William Eddy 
were caught fifty times playing at materialization, with 
" cork-soles," " ragged-blankets," and up-standing hair, 
upon some evening when conditions were unpropitious, 
the genuine phenomena of this one seance could not 
be obliterated from my memory. 

One of the most eminent scholars in this country, 
and one who has made a study of legerdemain, among 
other things, shows his ingrained skepticism of all 
spiritualistic matters by insisting, despite all my careful 
examination of thcwalls and floor of the cabinets up 
and down stairs, that the figures are personations by 
confederates. He tells me that he waits patiently for 
the exposure that, in his opinion, will surely come; as 
surely as it did in Philadelphia, and as, he maintains, 
it will in London. He makes no more account of Mr. 
Crookes', and my observations, than he did of Mr. 
Owen's, regarding us all as equally superficial. Well, 
I am content to be placed in the stocks, in such good 
company. 

In William's dark hole of a cabinet there was not a 
bit of woolen, silk, or cotton rag, the size of a finger- 
stall, nor a moccasin or string of beads ; not a wig 
nor even a stick of black pomade, much less a wash- 
bowl, water or towels ; and about his person, as I had 
discovered by my innocent ruse, there were none of 
these things; and yet there had appeared — but the 
story is already told and I need not repeat. 



28S MYSTERIES. 

Two features of this occasion will arrest the attention 
of scientific minds, viz : the appearance and disappear- 
ance of the baby, and the instantaneous formation of 
Honto and shawl. There could be no mistake about 
the child — no questions of rag-wrapped legs or fondled 
pillows. The figure stood too near me and in too 
good a light to admit of such deceptions being 
practised. It was a living, moving child, which, 
with its right thumb in its mouth, nestled its 
little head in the neck of its bearer, and passed 
its chubby left arm about her neck. For the instant 
it was as palpable and, no doubt, as material a 
being as any baby now lying in its mother's arms. 
Made from the imponderable atoms floating in the 
foul air of that chamber, it was resolved into nothing 
in an instant of time, leaving no trace of its evanescent 
existence behind. And the shawl ! in what spirit- 
home, by what hearth, or under what vine-trellised 
porch (for Mayflower's rhymes teem with allusions to 
her house and garden, her pets and domestic compan- 
ions) was its yarn spun, its knots tied, and its strands 
tinted? Whose busy fingers plied the needles, or 
whose hand guided the ghostly loom by which its 
meshes were formed? Mystery of mysteries! What 
CEdipus can solve the riddle ? And how long must we 
wait for an answer? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SPIRITS FROM FAR CATHAY. 

AMONG the spirits who frequent the Eddy home- 
stead none is more remarkable than an aged 
woman who chooses to call herself " The Witch 
of the Mountain." In her personal appearance she bears 
a marked resemblance to that massive, artistic figure of 
the drama, the Meg Merrilles of Charlotte Cushman. 
The face is one not easily forgotten. Old, wrinkled, and 
decrepit as she is — the latter so much that she usually has 
to sit in a chair while discoursing to us — her black eye 
gleams with intelligence and a fiery resolution, and her 
voice, although pitched in a high falsetto, has the ring of 
command in its penetrating tones. No thick layer of fat 
covers her attenuated frame, her arms are almost as thin 
as a skeleton's, her cheeks hollow, her skin dark brown 
and seemingly dry as parchment, and her elfish locks 
of gray hang beside a face that would be marked 
among ten thousand.* On the 31st of last August, I saw 
William Eddy throw a dipperful of spring water, taken 
in my presence from the horse-trough, upon a chip fire 

out of doors, and it flashed up instantaneously, as though 
IO 289 * See r age, 296 



290 THE "WITCH OF THE MOUNTAIN." 

the embers had been fed with oil or alcohol. It was this 
spirit who, as alleged, did the trick, using the medium as 
her intermediary. 

One day, late in October, the same experiment was 
successfully repeated in the presence of several witnesses. 
I am told that one evening last winter, in the presence 
of a small circle, among whom was an Albany lawyer 
named E. D. Stronk, she called for a jar of spring water, 
and a few pieces of charcoal from the wood-stove, and 
transmuted the latter into stones, after stirring them about 
in the jar with her fingers, and making the vessel appear 
filled with liquid fire. The witnesses and pebbles I have 
seen, but not the experiment; so I set that aside. On 
the evening of the same August 31st, however, I saw the 
spirit seat herself in a chair on the platform, saw her give 
her silky hair into the hands of Judge Bacon, of St. 
Johnsbury, Vt., Mr. Stronk, and another, to feel; saw 
her allow Judge Bacon to pull out a lock as a keepsake ; 
saw the hair in his possession after the circle and on the 
next day; and heard her speak to us concerning the 
affairs of the next world, for the space of perhaps five 
minutes. She has not been a frequent visitor of late, but 
about the 23d of October it was announced that she 
would appear immediately after the 15th of November, 
to take charge of the circle during the winter, and 
that she would perform a number of startling chemical 
experiments. 

The 15th fell on Sunday, and of course there was no 
circle. The next evening, I made an engagement with a 
hard-headed Rutland skeptic to drive up there, but he 
failed me at the very last moment, and I could not reach 



A LAW YER ' S CER TIFICA TE. 291 

Chittenden in time. The Witch came out, however, 

according to announcement, and sat and discoursed much 

as she did on the occasion previously noticed. Her 

experiment of the evening consisted in the manufacture 

of a number of bright masses that seemed like large 

crystals, but which shone Avith great brilliancy. Mr. 

Stronk, the Albany counselor, happening there on a 

second visit, has given me the following memorandum : 

Chittenden, November 19th, 1874. 
This is to certify that I attended the seance at the house of the 
Eddy brothers, on the evening of the 17th, when " The Witch of the 
Mountain" appeared, and conversed for some minutes. She per- 
mitted me, with two others, to go up to her and look at three sub- 
stances that may be called spirit-jewels, which she drew from her 
bosom and showed to me. They were unlike anything I ever beheld, 
and indescribably beautiful. One was about as large as the bottom 
of a tea-saucer, luminous, piano or concavo-convex, and the surface 
divided into squares, or perhaps bosses, each of which seemed to 
sparkle with a different color. Some were like the light of a dia- 
mond, some rosy, some golden. If I had been allowed to handle 
them, I might give a more accurate description. 

E. D. Stronk, 
83 Lancaster Street, Albany, N. Y. 

The last time I saw the " Witch " was on the evening 

of the 7th of October, when she was the first spirit to 

emerge from the cabinet. She stepped out at the left 

of the curtain, and made some pretty severe strictures 

upon a card signed " Skeptic," professing to be written 

by a neighbor of the Eddys (which, in fact, it was not), 

and containing many falsehoods about them and their 

doings. She then said she had a few words for me, and, 

passing into the cabinet for a moment, reappeared at the 

left of the curtain, which brought her directly in front 

of my position. She said that she hoped that conditions 

would soon be such that they (the spirits) would be able 



292 PERSONA L MA GNE TISM A PO WER. 

to satisfy me as to experiments ; that I must be patient 
and restrain my natural eagerness to probe things to the 
bottom — for I rendered myself so intensely positive as to 
throw the atmosphere of the circle into violent pertuba- 
tion. I could not help recalling the letter of Professor 
Tyndall in reply to the invitation of the Dialectical 
Society's Committee to investigate the phenomena of 
Spiritualism. He said : 

" More than a year ago, Mr. Cromwell Varley, who is, I believe, 
one of the greatest modern Spiritualists, did me the favor to pay me 
a visit, and he then employed a comparison which, though flattering 
to my spiritual strength, seems to mark me out as unfit for spiritual 
investigation. He said that my presence at a seance resembled that 
of a great magnet among a number of small ones. I throw all into 
confusion." 

The Professor evidently regarded the thing as a joke, 
but I do not, for I think that if any one thing is self- 
evident, it is that some persons have greater power 
than others to affect the mental, moral, and nervous 
conditions of those with whom they come in contact. 
If this were not a fact, how could we explain the "per- 
sonal magnetism" of actors, orators, lawyers, clergy- 
men, physicians, military and naval captains, and other 
men whose names will recur to every one who reads 
these lines. 

What is this insensible something that envelops us 
like an inner atmosphere, and saturates all whom we 
meet ? What subtle power made the mere touch of an 
Apostle's robe efficacious to cure disease, and the lay- 
ing on of a royal hand effect the same result? What 
human lightning darting from Napoleon's eye converted 
every soldier into a hero as it fell upon him ? What 
magic force turned the rout of our own Shenandoah 



A NEW ARRIVAL. 293 

army into a crushing, victory, as the fiery little captain 
galloped along the line and swept the field with a 
glance? What potent spell lurked in the presence of 
Florence Nightingale, and made the wounded men at 
Scutari better, if they could barely kiss her shadow as 
it flitted across their beds? And what but this unseen 
but all-potent personal magnetism, enables some fiends 
in human shape to draw maidens, wives, and widows, 
alike, from the path of virtue, to minister to their awful 
appetites against their own reason, moral training, and 
the natural promptings of a pure mind and a pre- 
viously unsullied heart? 

But I will not dwell upon a subject on which, in wider 
limits for discussion than are now at my command, I 
would be only too happy to expand. Suffice it to say 
that, after a good deal of observation among the phe- 
nomena of animal magnetism, odic force and Spiritual- 
ism, I have come to the conclusion that the mere 
exclusion of a person from a circle, or his location in 
any given place in the same, is neither prima facie evi- 
dence of intended trickery, nor that the superior 
acumen of the individual as an investigator is dreaded. 

The arrival of a Russian lady of distinguished birth 
and rare educational and natural endowments, on 
the 14th of October (the very day after a certain pseudo- 
investigator, who has since made his " statement," left,) 
was an important event in the history of the Chittenden 
manifestations. This lady — Madame Helen P. de Bla- 
vatsky — has led a very eventful life, traveling in most 
of the lands of the Orient, searching for antiquities at 
the base of the Pyramids, witnessing the mysteries of 



294 MADAME DE BLA VA TSKY. 

Hindoo temples, and pushing with an armed escort far 
into the interior of Africa. The adventures she has 
encountered, the strange people she has seen, the perils 
by sea and land she has passed through, would make 
one of the most romantic stories ever told by a biog- 
rapher. In the whole course of my experience, I never 
met so interesting and, if I may say it without offence, 
eccentric a character. 

As I am about to describe some of the spirit-forms 
that appeared to her at the Eddy homestead, and am 
dependent upon her for a translation of most of the 
language they spoke, it is important that I should say 
a few words concerning her social position, by way of 
preface. The lady has been so obliging as to comply 
with my request to be furnished with some account of 
herself, and cheerfully submitted to my inspection 
documentary proofs of her identity. Among others of 
the latter, I have seen familiar letters from Prince 

Ferdinand W , a relative of the Czar, Baron M , 

and other noblemen, a certified copy of her father's 
will, and her passports, which, as well as the last named 
document, fully attest her rank. She is the grand- 
daughter, on the mother's side, of the great General 
Fadeef and the Princess Helen Dolgoroukoff, grand- 
daughter of the Prince Iakoff Dolgorouky, the best 
friend and counselor of Peter the Great. Her grand- 
aunt was Natalia Kirilowna, Princess Dolgorouky, 
who was the betrothed of Peter II., and would have 
been Empress, had not that unfortunate Prince died on 
the eve of their intended marriage. On the father's 
side she is related to the powerful Kourland family of 



ANCESTRY AND SOCIAL POSITION. 297 

the Hahn-Hahns, who trace their line in unbroken 
descent, back to the first Crusades. Her father's father 
was Lieutenant-General of Kourland, and his mother 
found a second husband in the Prince Nicholas Vas- 
iltchikofF. Her father was a General on the retired 
list, and died at an advanced age, after some sixty years 
of service in the army and civil department. His high 
rank is proven by the fact of his being in the " Corps 
des Pages," to which none but the sons of the highest 
families are admitted. Mme. de Blavatsky herself was 
married to General de Blavatsky, Governor of Erivan, 
in the Caucasus.* 

It will be seen, therefore, from the above recital, that 
here we have a lady of such social position, as to be 
incapable of entering into a vulgar conspiracy with 
any pair of tricksters, to deceive the public, while her 
education and travels have necessarily made her 
acquainted with many different languages. This is my 
witness ; and now to my story. 

On the 14th of October Mme. de Blavatsky reached 
Chittenden, and attended the seance that evening. 
Honto, as if to give the amplest opportunity for the 
artist and myself to test the correctness of the theory 
of " personation," that the " investigator " previously 

* " Caucasus " is the general name given to the region and the 
chain of mountains which stretch between the Black and Caspian 
seas, the mountains forming the boundary between Asia and Europe. 
The country is divided into the governments of Kuban, Stawropol, 
Terek, Daghestan, Zakatol, Tiflis, Koutais, Sukum, Tchernomore 
(Black Sea), Elizabethpol, Balsa, and Eriwan. The first five lie on 
the European side of the mountains ; and the last seven in Asia, and 
include Circassia, Abkasia, Mingrelia, Imerethia, Georgia, Russian 
Armenia, and Shirvan. 



298 SPIRI TS FROM AFAR. 

alluded to had expounded to us, stood at the right of 
the cabinet, motioning us to observe her height, her 
feet, the bead trimming on her dress, and then unplaited 
her hair and shook it out over her shoulders. Santum 
came, too, and " Wando " and " Wasso ;" and then the 
first of the Russian lady's spirit-visitors made his 
appearance. 

He was a person of middle height, well shaped, 
dressed in a Georgian (Caucasian) jacket, with loose 
sleeves and long pointed oversleeves, an outer long 
coat, baggy trousers, leggings of yellow leather, and 
white skull-cap, or fez, with tassel. She recognized 
him at once as Michalko Guegidze, late of Kiitais, 
Georgia, a servant of Madame Witte, a relative, and 
who waited upon Mme. de B in Kiitais. 

He was followed by the spirit of Abraham Alsbach, 
who spoke some sentences in German to his sister; 
and he, in turn, by M. Zephirin Boudreau, late of Can- 
ada, the father of a lady who accompanied Mme. de 
Blavatsky to Chittenden, and who, of course, was 
attending her first seance. She addressed her questions 
to him in French, he responding by rapping with his 
hand against the door-frame, except in one instance, 
when he uttered the word " Oui." This gentleman 
stood so that I saw him in profile against the white 
wall. He had an aquiline nose, rather hollow cheeks, 
prominent cheek-bones, and an iron-gray beard upon 
his chin. It was a marked face, in short, of the pure 
Gallic type, one of the kind that Vergne calls " numis- 
matic faces," for they seem as if made expressly for 
reproduction upon coins and medals. In stature he 




A SIDE SHOW. 



THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE WRITTEN. 301 

was tall, and in figure slim, and altogether had the air 
of a gentleman. 

A little girl spirit came after him, and conversed by- 
raps with her mother, who spoke in the German lan- 
guage ; and this brought William's circle to a close. 

After that we had a light circle — one of the kind in 
which, as the reader will remember, certain persons 
assert that the phenomena are all done by the hand of 
the medium. Among other things that occurred was, 
the writing of Mme. de Blavatsky's name upon a card, 
by a spirit-hand, in Russian script, which it will scarcely 
be said that Horatio could write, with both hands free. 
Various detached hands were shown through the aper- 
ture in the shawls, and among the number that of the 
boy Michalko himself, which the lady recognized by 
some peculiarity, as well as by a string of amber beads 
wound around the wrist. Recollect that she had only 
arrived that afternoon, had barely become acquainted 
with the medium, had had no conversation whatever 
with anybody about her former life, and then say how 
this Vermont farmer could have known : 

(1) Of the existence of Michalko Guegidze ; (2) that 
he had any relations of any kind with his visitor ; (3) 
that it is a custom among the Georgian peasants to 
wear a string of amber beads upon their arms; and 
then the skeptic will have to account for the possession 
of so unusual a thing as this kind of a rosary, by a 
family working a Green Mountain farm. 

It instantly occurred to me that if this hand belonged 
to the spirit I had seen in William's circle, the spirit 

must be attached to it behind the curtain ; and that he 

10* 



302 



LEZGUINKA. 



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A MUSICAL TEST. 303 

must be able to prove his identity by playing some 
familiar air; so I whispered to Mme. de B., in French, 
to ask him in his own language to play such an air 
upon the strings of the guitar that lay upon the table 
behind there. She first asked him, in Georgian and 
Russian, if he were really Michalko, and certain other 
questions ; to which he responded by sweeping the 
guitar strings once, or thrice, as he wished to indicate 
'•Yes or "No." 

Among other things she said: " Ilaparakey sheni 
tschccrimy " (Georgian) — " Speak to me, my good fel- 
low." No response. " Koli te to postoutschi piatraz 
(Russian) — " If it is you, knock five times or five 
sweeps of the guitar. Then she said : " Poegrai 
' Zezguinka.' " — " Play the ' Lezguinka' " — a famous but far 
from melodious national air. He then played the air 
as it is found printed in this chapter ; Mme. de B. hav- 
ing been so kind as, with the assistance of Mr. Lenzberg, 
the Hartford music professor, to transcribe it for me. 

This song being finished, after repetition upon repe- 
tition, she asked the spirit to play another Caucasian 
song and dance known as: "Tiris! Tiris ! Barbare." 
She said: " Sigrai ' Gourinkou"' — "Play the Gouriel 
dance " — and straightway it was played by the invisible 
performer with great animation. My fellow-spectators 
sat listening to the strange sentences of the Russian 
lady, without understanding either what she said, the 
nationality of the music that was being played, or, 
until it was all over, the nature of the important 
test that was being given ; for I believe I was the only 



3°4 



THE GO URIEL DANCE. 



person present who spoke French, and our conversa- 
tion was confined to that language. 

The instruments upon which the Georgian musicians 
play the two airs in question, are the zourna, a curious 
sort of bagpipe, and the ichicharda, or tschunggourou, a 
four-stringed wooden instrument, something like an 
ancient mandolin, if I am not mistaken — which, in the 
matter of music and musical instruments, is the most 
likely thing in the world. 

PERSIAN-CAUCASIAN SONG. 

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A REMARKABLE CORROBORATION. 305 

In the Lczguinka dance the movement is at first slow 
and measured, but, little by little, the time quickens, 
until finally, as the dancers warm to their work, they 
abandon themselves to the excitement of the moment 
with mad enthusiasm. The effect upon the spectator, of 
this monotonous repetition of the slight melody there is 
in the air, must be the reverse of agreeable. 

I am fortunately, in the most unexpected manner, put 
in possession of a conclusive bit of evidence in corrob- 
oration of Madame de Blavatsky's story of Michalko's 
identity as a Georgian, in two letters from a merchant in 
Philadelphia, which, in view of their public importance, 
I have obtained his permission to publish verbatim: 

The first introduces the writer to me in the following 
terms : 

Philadelphia, 430 Walnut St., October 29th, 1874. 
Henry S. Olcott, Chittenden, Ft., Eddy s Homestead. 

Dear Sir : Though I have not the pleasure of your personal 
acquaintance, I take ihe liberty of addressing to you a few words, 
knowing your name from the Daily Graphic correspondence on 
Eddy's manifestations, which I read with greatest interest. 

I learn from to-day's Sun that at Eddy's, in presence of Mme. 
Blowtskey, Russian lady, a spirit of Michalko Guegidse (very familiar 
name to me) has materialized in Georgian dress, has spoken Georgian 
language, danced Lezguinka, and sung Georgian National Air. 

Being myself a native of Georgia, Caucasus, I read these news 
with greatest astonishment and surprise, and being not a believer in 
spiritualism, I do not know what to think of these manifestations. 

I address to-day a letter to Mrs. Blowtskey, asking some ques- 
tions about materialized Georgian, and if she left Eddy's please 
forward it to her, if you know her address. 

I also earnestly request your corroboration of this astonishing fact, 
materialized Georgian, if he really came out from the cabinet in 
Georgian dress, and in your presence. If that occurred in fact, and 
if anybody will regard it, as usually, trickery and humbug, then I 
will state to you this: There are in the United States no other Geor- 
gians but three, of whom I am the one and came first to this country 
three years ago. Two others whom I know, came over last year. I 



306 MR. BETA NELLY'S LETTERS. 

know they are not in Vermont now and never been there before • 
and I know they do not speak English at all. Besides us three, no 
other man speaks Georgian language in this country, and when I 
say this, I mean it to be true fact. Hoping you will answer this 
letter, I remain, yours respectfully, M. C. Betanelly. 

Upon receipt of this, I wrote to Mr. Betanelly, answer- 
ing his questions, giving the names of other spirits that 
appeared to Madame de Blavatsky, and suggesting that 
it would interest the public, if he and his two friends 
would unite in a certificate that they knew the persons in 

life. Here is his reply : 

Philadelphia, November iSth, 1874. 
Colonel LI. S. Okoit, Rutland. Ft., 

Dear Sir : I am perfectly willing to give you all information and 
Certificates concerning materialized Georgian spirits at Eddy's. 
Unfortunately I kept no correspondence lately with my Georgian 
friends, but I think they are somewhere in New York or out West, 
but I know they had no personal acquaintance of persons in Georgia 
that materialized at Eddy's. 

I knew Michalko when alive in Kiitais, and think could recollect 
his face at Eddy's if I was there at that night. He was late serf of 
Alex. Guegidse, a Georgian nobleman, and employed servant in Col. 
A. F. Witte's family. Mr. Witte still lives in Kiitais, and occupies 
a position of an engineer under Russian Government. 

I also knew personally late General Faddeyeff, a tall and old Gen- 
tleman in Tiflis, who died several years ago. He occupied one of 
the highest rank in Tiflis under Government, and possessed the 
Cross of St. Ann, and other merits of honor for his military and 
civil services. 

The names of Hasan-Agha and Safas-Ali-Bek are also very 
familiar to me. 

" Lezguinka " is real National Georgian play and dance. " Tiris, 
tiris, Barbare," is Georgian air, commonly song by lower classes and 
paysantry. " Tiris " in English means " crys," " to cry." " Bar- 
bare is Georgian feminine name." Whole verse means : Crys, crys 
Barbare, &c. : this is one verse of the whole and long song, which 
it is not, I think, necessary for you to describe or translate. 

I send you for curiosity, a Georgian weekly newspaper, " The 
Times" (Droeda), published in Tiflis, Caucasus.* 

' Your obedient servant, M. C. Betanelly. 



*See Page, 474- 



ABUNDANT TESTS. 307 

Of course I never heard either of the Georgian airs 
before, and so leave to Mr. Betanelly and his compatriots 
in this country to speak for themselves. I can only say 
that the music printed in this chapter, is the music I heard 
played behind the curtain in Horatio G. Eddy's light- 
circle on the evening of October 14th, 1874; and now 
pass on to my next point. After stating that having 
since made the acquaintance of Mr. Betanelly, he cor- 
roborates all that he says in his two letters, and, since 
they were written, has actually seen the face of a Geor- 
gian spirit-friend at the cabinet window of a certain 
medium. 

Among the evidences of the genuineness of the phe- 
nomena furnished us on this evening, were : The playing 
on the guitar and tambourine, and the ringing of two 
bells, all at once ; the playing of the guitar by Michalko, 
with the instrument held fiat against the south wall, 
farthest away from Horatio ; the simultaneous playing of 
the guitar, at the extreme left, beyond Horatio, with its 
end resting upon a chair in sight of the audience, and 
the patting of the lady-sitter's head and shoulders by two 
unseen hands ; and finally, the simultaneous pressure of 
three hands upon the backs of Mr. J. M. Peebles and 
Mrs. E. D. Stronk, the gentleman and lady who sat with 
the medium in front of the curtain. Following, as this 
seance did, immediately upon the pretended " exposure " 
of the fraud of Horatio, I determined, that no chance to 
discover trickery upon this particular evening, should be 
neglected ; so I took Mr. Peebles into my confidence, 
and instructed him to move his arm frequently, and turn 
it so as to present new nerve surfaces to the pressure of 



308 MR. PEEBLES' CERTIFICATE. 

the medium's fingers. That he followed the suggestion, 
may be seen from the following certificate : 

Colonel Olcoit : 

My Dear Sir: Granted the privilege of sitting in the light 
seance, of Horatio Eddy, to witness what are demonstrated spiritual 
manifestations, I beg to make the following statement : 

Taking a seat forward of the cabinet to the right of Mr. Eddy, he 
tightly clasped with both his hands my bare arm. This done, music 
was heard immediately, and simultaneously upon three different 
instruments. 

This was followed by hands tapping me on the back — on the 
right shoulder ; and then they were projected from behind the cur- 
tain, patting my face and pulling the beard. The hand which I 
both saw and felt distinctly, was cold, white, and delicate, utterly 
unlike in shape and appearance, that of Mr. Eddy's. And what is 
more, during this and other manifestations, I purposely moved my 
arms in different directions, to be certain that both of Mr. Eddy's 
hands were still clasping mine. 

This hand and arm appearing the second time, there was upon the 
wrist amber-colored beads. These I not only saw, but I felt and 
heard them jingle. Instruments of music were played upon at a 
distance beyond the medium's reach, even if his hands had been at 
liberty. And yet, during all of these marvels, if I can trust my 
senses in connection with reason and consciousness, his hands were 
not for a moment unclasped from mine — neither were the nerves of 
sensation so benumbed as to prevent, in the slightest, the usual 
acuteness of feeling. 

This materialized hand also smoothed my hair, rung bells, and 
wrote upon cards before the eyes of both the circle and myself. And 
I am as certain it was not Horatio Eddy's hand, as I am it was not 
mine. 

J. M. Peebles. 

Mr. Pebbles is well known as an eloquent speaker and 
scholarly writer upon Spiritualism, but that does not 
imply that he is either a fool or a knave. He was recently 
United States Consul at Trebizond, and is an Orientalist, 
a Fellow of the Anthropological Society of London, 
and Corresponding Member of the Royal Asiatic Society 
of India. In Part II of this work, will be found an 



SPIRITS DISSOLVING. 309 

interesting paper by him, describing some remarkable 
magical performances he witnessed in the East. 

It was upon the following evening that I saw Honto 
suddenly sink away up to her waist, just as she was about 
to pass into the cabinet. Three persons — two gentlemen 

of Philadelphia, Mr. E and Mr. M , and one 

lady, Miss E. S of Albany — have written to me con- 
cerning a similar phenomenon which happened in their 
presence, upon one evening, before my visit, and subse- 
quently to the occurrences certified to in a former chapter. 
I was in hopes that they would have consented to unite 
in a certificate to the fact, but all manifest great reluctance 
to having their names associated with Spiritualism in a 
public manner. I content myself, therefore, with saying 
that they are each of excellent character. 

It is a curious affair, this progressive disintegration of 
the "materialized " spirit-body! If we can conceive of 
the body being made, by a supreme effort of the spirit's 
will, from the invisible atoms of the atmosphere, there is 
nothing difficult in the theory that, by a like effort, it 
could be destroyed. In fact, it is to be noticed that 
most ghost-stories relate how the apparition suddenly 
evaporates, or dissolves back into its original unsubstan- 
tial elements. Thus the Phantom Carriage, of Chapter 
Vth, was seen to fade away in the moonlight, and so faded 
the White Lady of Avenel before the eyes of the affrighted 
sacristan. But here we have Honto sinking suddenly 
into the solid floor, waist-deep ; and then, with what 
might be called the stump of a body, sliding behind the 
cabinet curtain. The same thing happened to Katie 
King in the course of Mr. Crookes' experiments. He 



310 HASSAN AGHA'S PEBBLES. 

mentions having seen her sink away until nothing 
remained but her head, which appeared to rest upon 
the carpet of the room. 

Mrs. Bolles' mother fell to pieces, as though every 
atom of her form had suddenly lost its coherence with 
every other atom. Why is this ? How can the discrep- 
ancy be explained ? Has one spirit so superior a power 
over its materialized body that it can only be dissolved 
in progressive ascension, from heels to head, while another 
falls into fragments, at the instant it loses its hold on a 
single one of the molecules of which its evanescent shape 
is composed ? Ah ! that is one of the problems that 
await the philosophical chemist. 

The next evening, a new spirit, " Hassan Agha," came 
to Madame de Blavatsky. He was a wealthy merchant 
of Tiflis whom she knew well. He had a sneaking fancy 
for the Black Art, as well as our own mediums, and 
sometimes obliged his acquaintance by divining for them 
with a set of conjuring stones, procured from Arabia at a 
great price. His method was to throw them upon the 
floor, beside his mat, and then, by the way they fell into 
groups, prophesy the future and read the past for his 
wondering visitors. He claimed that the stones possessed 
some magic property by which and the muttering of 
certain Arabic sentences, the inner sight of the conjuror 
was opened, and all things hidden became clear. 
Hassan's dress, was a long yellowish coat, Turkish 
trousers, a bishmet, or vest and a black Astrachan cap, 
pappaha, covered with the national bashlik, or hood, with 
its long tasseled ends thrown over each shoulder. 

Another of her visitors was an old woman dressed in 



MAR YAH, THE NURSE. 313 

the costume of the Russian peasant-women, of whom the 
artist has given a sketch. She was an old nurse in the 
family, and took charge of both Madame de B. and her 
sister in early childhood. She advanced towards the 
lady, and, after making a respectful salutation, said some- 
thing to her in her native tongue, of which I could 
distinguish the words " Michalko " and " Barishnia" 
which latter means " Miss." 

Hassan Agha returned the next evening, and not only 
staid out longer than before, but, after retiring, reappeared 
at our side of the curtain so as to give the artist a good 
look at him. He spoke to Madame de B. this evening, 
and, listening with close attention, I heard the words 
Peshkesh, Bolshoi djelha, and Backsheesh, for the spelling 
and translation of which I am indebted to the lady. The 
first means " a present," the second and third " a big 
fortune," and the last, which is only too familiar to every 
traveler in the East, "Money." "Is it forme?" asked 
Madame de B. " Abou " (for you) answered the old man, 
with a crracious salaam. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

GERMANS, KHOURDS, AND HUNGARIANS. 

WE had a dark-circle after William's materializing 
circle, in which the child " Mayflower " demon- 
strated her ability to see in the dark, as well as 
we do in the light. Little Lena Lenzberg had brought 
in her pocket a hair-switch which she wanted the spirit 
to braid. After the circle was formed and the light 
extinguished, she laid it in her lap, but had said nothing 
of her desire until suddenly Mayflower exclaimed : " Oh ! 
Lena, what have you got there ? You want me to braid 
that hair; don't you? I will ; but why didn't you bring 
the other two there are at home ? " She crossed the 
room, took the hair, braided it, and returned it to Lena's 
lap. She then called her to step out on the floor and see 
which was the taller of the two. Lena obeyed, and stood 

back to back with the spirit, with the following result : 

( 
Chittenden, October 19th, 1S74. 
Mr. Olcott: 

My name is Lena Lenzberg, and I am thirteen years old. I was 
at the dark-circle last night. Mayflower called me out on the floor 
and we measured heights. We were exactly the same. I felt her 
back and head against mine, and she kissed me after we measured. 
( Lena Lenzkerg. 

3M 



BACK TO BACK WITH CORA. 



315 



Lena is rather a short girl for her age, as will be inferred 

by reading the certificate of a dear little girl from Utica, 

two years younger, with whom Mayflower tried the same 

experiment : 

Chittenden, October 21st, 1874. 
With my father's permission, I state that my name is Cora Cecilia 
Ehle, and I am almost eleven years old. Papa says I measure 4 feet 
6 1-8 inches, Last night, Mayflower called me " Birdie," and asked 
me to measure my height with her. We stood with our backs 
together, and I was about two inches taller than her. This was in 
a dark-circle. Cora C. Ehle. 

" George Dix," of whose whistling accomplishments I 
have previously spoken, gave us a splendid display this 
evening. He asked Mr. Lenzberg to play on his flute 
" The Mocking Bird " and " Home, Sweet Home " very 
softly, which that gentleman did ; and Dix whistled a 
tremolo accompaniment that equaled anything of the 
kind I ever heard. It was quite as good as the bird-calls, 
runs, and trills of the old cigar-seller at Evans' Supper 
Rooms, in London, whom so many hundreds of American 
travelers must recollect. 

The next day was cloudy and cold, and a storm was 
clearly brewing among the mountain ranges. It was what 
might be called a fair temperature for manifestations, and 
we had some good ones. Thirty-one persons attended 
the circle, and nine different spirits appeared. Hontowas 
dressed in a white dress, with black or dark overskirt ; 
and she seemed determined that we should see more than 
this, for at one time she came within two feet of Mr. 
Lenzberg, and lifting her skirt to her knees, displayed a 
good deal of a pair of white stockings. She had hand- 
some moccasins on her feet. 

I noticed very closely, this evening, the vast difference 



316 A SPIRIT SPEAKS GERMAN. 

between the size, height, bust, and appearance of the 
young lady spirit, Maggie Brown, and William Eddy. I 
do not know what called my attention to her so particu- 
larly, but I caught her figure and face in profile in a 
passably good light, and these details attracted my notice. 
When she held up her bouquet, as usual, for her brother 
to look at, her round, white, womanly arm was brought 
out into full view. 

Abraham Alsbach's sister said to him : " Willst du uns 
zu haus besuchen ? " to which he replied so distinctly that 
I caught the sound of the words : " Ja • ich gehe mit dir 
nach haus morgen" — which I undertake to say is more 
German than both of the brothers together can speak. 

Horatio was in one of his ugly moods, this evening, 
which was, perhaps, attributable in part to a sound 
berating that old Mr. Brown, the talking spirit, gave him, 
and everybody in general, at the close of William's circle. 
I have read of " Katie King's " scolding visitors at the 
London seances, but if anybody wants to hear the thing 
in perfection and pretty constantly, let him stop at Chit- 
tenden a fortnight, and hear this venerable party express 
his views and intentions ! 

I wanted Horatio to allow me to lay my hands lightly 
outside the shawl, over his hands, after they had been 
placed upon the bare arm of the gentleman-sitter at his 
left, but he would not do it, but called up a lady present 
to hold them there, saying that " one person's word 
was as good as another's." This was only one of 
many such rebuffs, so I let it pass, noting it as a suspicious 
circumstance, and waiting for the time when he should 
volunteer to give me this convincing proof of his good 



THE GARABALDIAX'S II AND. 



317 



behavior. But the time never came. Perhaps, because 
I had not sufficiently shown my good-feeling and fair- 
ness ; perhaps, — , well, who knows ? 

It is fair that I should say that the lady reported that 
he had not removed either hand from the gentleman's 
arm. Moreover, I must add that Mme. de Blavatsky, 
who sat at the gentleman's right, declared that she felt 
one hand on her right shoulder (the one farthest from the 
medium), at the same instant that the gentleman reported 
one on each of his shoulders. The guitar, two bells, and 
tambourine were played simultaneously, and hands of 
Various sizes were shown. Among these, one was too 
peculiar to be passed over. It was a left hand, and upon 
the lower bone of the thumb a bony excrescence was 
growing, which Mme. de Blavatsky recognized, and said 
was caused by a gun-shot wound in one of Garibaldi's 
battles. The hand grasped a broken sword that had been 
lying upon a table behind the shawl. It was the hand of 




'/^^^ 



a Hungarian officer, an old friend of the Madame's, 
named Dgiano Nallus, and a fac-simile of his own signa- 
ture, written by one of his hands upon a card, is here given. 



318 FA C- SIMILES. 

Another signature, written for the same lady, was that 
of her husband's brother, J. de Blavatsky, a fac-simile of 
which is also given. She asked in the Georgian language 




if the spirits would not again play for her the Gouriel 
air, '' Tiris ! Tiris ! Barbare ; " but instead, a famous 
Garibaldian march, called " Viva l'ltalia " was played 
upon the guitar. This seemed to me a more satisfactory 
test than the compliance with her request would have 
afforded, for it was just barely possible that Horatio 
might have inferred that she was repeating her demand 
of the former light-circle, and, having caught the air, 
would have rendered it for her ; whereas, in this case, 
entirely different music, connected with entirely different 
associations, but eminently appropriate to the appearance 
of Dgiano Nallus, the Garibaldian soldier, was unexpect- 
edly rendered. 

It is upon such tests as these, spontaneously given, that 
I have based my confidence in these Eddy boys. Granted 
that they may be able to tie and untie themselves, " float " 
instruments, ring bells, and fool intelligent persons into 
the belief that their hands are on their arms when, in fact, 
they are in quite a different place ; admitting all this, I 
exclude from my case every individual phenomenon that 
can be explained upon the hypothesis of trickery, and 
still, as I conceive, have an abundance remaining to prove 



L 



A MENTAL TEST. 319 

their mediumship. If the " grand expositor " had shown 
the public a theory broad enough to cover all the appear- 
ances in William's circle, — the talking children ; the 
wrinkled old men and women ; the young girls in the 
suppleness, freshness, and plumpness of youth, with their 
white, bare arms, shapely hands, and well-set heads ; the 
diversities in height and bulk, so great as to be inexpli- 
cable to any frequenter of the coulisses upon the theory 
of personation ; the speaking of various languages, some 
the most unusually known in this country ; the changing 
of complexions from white to copper, and black to white; 
the faces without a sign of beard, while the medium wears 
a black moustache all the while ; these, and, further, the 
exceptional tests given in Horatio's light-circle, and the 
music-playing and other marvels of his dark-circle, I 
would have only to confess that my two months' labor 
had been wasted, and I was one more of the fools of the 
senses. This is just what I have waited for, and what I 
have not discovered. Until I do, I stand upon my story 
of phenomena observed, with the confidence of one 
whose house is built upon a sure foundation. 

Mme. de Blavatsky and I, without pre-concert, applied 
the same test to one spirit that appeared one evening. He 
was a great, stout Indian chief, in a red hunting-shirt, leg- 
gins, and moccasins, and the lady mentally asked him 
to approach very near to where she sat, at the parlor- 
organ, close against the railing. He did so, and gazing 
into her face, at not more than two or three feet distance, 
lifted up one of his feet and showed her the moccasin 
upon it. He retired into the cabinet, but I fixed my wjll 

intently upon him, and desired that he should return 
11 



320 SAFAR A LI'S SPIRIT. 

once more and show himself to me also. He raised the 
curtain the next instant, came out, folded his arms, looked 
at me, lifted his foot and placed it on top of the railing 
with a most defiant air, and then disappeared again from 
our view. 

The last spirit to show himself on that evening, was 
one of the most impressive figures of the whole four 
hundred or so I have seen. In 185 1 Mme. de Blavatsky 
was passing the summer at Daratschi-Tchag, an 
Armenian place of summer resort in the plain of Mount 
Arrarat. The name means " The Valley of Flow T ers." 
Her husband, being Vice-Governor of Erivan, had 
a body-guard of some fifty Khourd warriors, among 
whom one of the strongest and bravest, named Safar 
Ali Bek, Ibrahim Bek Ogli, (the son of Ibrahim) was 
detailed as the lady's personal escort. He rode after 
her everywhere on her daily equestrian excursions, and 
delighted to display his unusual skill as a cavalier. This 
very man walked out of William Eddy's cabinet in the 
form of a materialized spirit, dressed to the minutest 
detail, as when she last saw him in Asia. Madame 
was playing the parlor-organ that evening, and as the 
back of the instrument was close against the platform, 
it brought her to within three or four feet of each of 
the spirits as they stood outside of the cabinet. 
There could be no mistaking her old Khourdish 
"Nouker," and her recognition of him was immediate. 
He came out empty-handed; but just as I thought he 
was about to retire he bent forward, as if picking a 
handful of mould from the ground, made a gesture of 
scattering it, and pressed his hand to his bosom, — a 







^ == =^^--^ f=5AFAR-ALI-BEK A KONDE WARgjOfo 
A STRANGE VISITOR. 



THE "NOUA'ER'S" SPEAK. 323 

gesture familiar only to the tribes of Kurdistan ; then, 
he suddenly held in his right hand the most curious- 
looking weapon I ever saw. It was a spear with a 
staff that might have been a dozen feet in length (perhaps 
more, for the butt seemed to extend into the cabinet,) 
and a long steel head of peculiar shape, the base of 
which was surrounded with a ring of ostrich plumes. 
This weapon, Mme. de B. tells me, is always carried 
by the Khourdish horsemen, who acquire a wonderful 
dexterity in handling it. One instant before, his hand 
was empty ; the next, he grasps this spear, with its 
glittering steel barb and its wavy plumes ! Whence 
came it ? From Chittenden township, master skeptic ? 

On the evening of the 20th, every one of the nine 
spirits appearing spoke to us ; an unprecedented circum- 
stance in my experience at Chittenden. Mrs. Pritchard's 
voice was clearer than usual ; Maggie Brown managed to 
whisper a little ; Mrs. Eddy spoke in very loud and clear 
tones, and advancing to the venerable and excellent Mr. 
Ralph, of Utica, N. Y., who sat upon the platform, knelt 
to him, kissed his hands and thanked him for his friendli- 
ness to her children — the scene being quite pathetic ; 
old Mrs. Cleveland's mother, a very wrinkled, white- 
haired dame, came to her daughter for the first time; a 
little child of a Mr. Whittier, of Massachusetts, a gi"rl of 
about four years, I should judge, said "Papa ! dear papa !" 
to him ; and all seemed to conspire to assist the colloquial 
powers of the visitors from beyond the dark river. 

I never saw Honto in better spirits than upon that 
evening. It seemed as if she could not do enough to 
rid herself of her superabundant vitality. Laying a 



324 If ONTO' S LEAP. 

hand upon the banister-rail, she leaped clear over it to 
the room floor ; and then resting a toe upon the platform 
edge, she leaped back again as lightly as an athlete. 
Running down the platform, and descending the steps, 
she caught Horatio by the hand and dragged him, 
unwilling, after her, up to the platform ; then she caught 
at old Mrs. Cleveland, and placed her beside him ; and 
then, off she went to the other end, for the amiable Mr. 
Ralph, and pulled him towards the others ; and then all 
four, with joined hands, had a merry dance together. 

If any fancy that Honto's face is but a mask covering 
William's features, let them consult Mr. Ralph, who has 
had opportunity enough to scan it, dear knows ! Her 
affection for Aunty Cleveland seemed to overflow its 
bounds, for when the motherly old soul said how happy 
she felt to see her, the squaw threw her arms (this time 
materialized) about her and gave her a hearty hug. She 
materialized two of her shawls at once, pulling one after 
another out of the wall, and handing the two together to 
the unseen person within the cabinet. Then she made 
us a dozen more of all sizes ; some of which appearing 
only as large as a towel, grew longer and wider as she 
walked back from Mrs. Cleveland, who held one end, 
until she had spun out of the air a fabric at least 16 feet 
in length and a yard and a half in width. 

Old Mrs. Pritchard not only spoke to her son, but 
when that gentleman introduced her to Mr. Ralph, who 
sat beside him, she shook hands with him and addressed 
him some words of compliment. She did not even 
neglect Mrs. Cleveland, but called her over and greeted 
her also. With the three persons standing about her, she 



MRS. PRITCIIARD 'S SPIRIT. 325 

then turned to the audience, and told us that that was her 
son standing there, and she wanted us to know the fact. 
Mr. Ralph and Mrs. Cleveland, both of whom scrutinized 
her closely, told me that her face was that of an old lady, 
\\:ry much wrinkled, and that her son bears a strong 
resemblance to her. 

They saw her lips move when she spoke, noticed the 
color of her eyes, the details of her dress and figure, and 
felt her hands bedewed with a cold sweat. These facts 
are noteworthy, inasmuch as William's moustache was 
well-grown at this time, and his face was rough with a 
week's beard stubble. 

Old Mr. Brown came out strong that evening, and laid 
about him with his tongue in fine style, giving "reporters" 
in general, and myself, by innuendo, in particular, a 
famous dressing down. Mrs. Eaton, also, who had usually 
been quite friendly towards me, was viperish to a degree. 
I gave it up as a bad job, after that, concluding that it 
was useless to make any further attempts to put myself on 
good terms with the band directing these materializations, 
for the harder I tried to be kind to the mediums, and 
deferential and conciliatory to the spirits, the worse off 
I was. The Shaker Elder Evans seems to give a pretty 
clear idea of the situation, in his long communication to 
myself that will be found elsewhere. My influence must 
have stirred up the materializes, like a steamer's paddles 
the water. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE DEAD ALIVE. 

THE moon shone brightly the next evening, and 
everything out of doors favored a good circle. 
The air was clear and cool ; every undulation 
of the mountain crests came out sharply against the 
sapphire sky in the glorious light ; the little stream in the 
distance threaded the meadows, like silver set in emer- 
alds ; and, far up the valley, a brilliant aurora-borealis 
shot its trembling spears of ruddy gold to the zenith, 
from behind the mountain barrier that shut in the horizon. 
A more peaceful scene I never viewed, and I turned from 
it with deep sadness to enter the gloomy circle-room, 
where, judging from what had been going on the few pre- 
ceding nights, I had every reason to expect demonstra- 
tions of ill-temper and antagonism on the part of both 
the family and their spirit-guides. 

Ten spirits appeared to us, among them a lady — a cer- 
tain Mrs. Fullmer, who had only died the Friday previous. 
The relative to whom she came sat beside me, and was 
dreadfully agitated at the thought that one whom she had 
seen buried only a few days before, should so soon have 

326 



A BOGUS LORD BYRON. 327 

"burst the cerements of the grave." Poor woman ! she 
was as little in reality a believer in the immortality of the 
soul, as most of her fellow church-members ; who pour 
their tears upon the coffin, instead of lifting the eyes of 
their faith upward, to where the disembodied spirit hangs 
lovingly over them. 

Among the forms to appear, was a man with a long 
black beard and dark complexion, wearing a turban, a 
red jacket embroidered with black braid, and inside vest 
of a flowered pattern, baggy trousers of dark blue or 
black, a sash around his waist, made of a twisted shawl, 
and black shoes. A person present, who had been cod- 
dled into the belief that he should see Lord Byron at the 
Eddys', asked the spirit if he were not the great poet, 
and was answered in the affirmative : the which circum- 
stance made me recall a certain passage at Proverbs 
xxvi, 5. The vanity, ignorance, and credulity of mortal 
spiritualists has been the cause of what Mr. Bagenal Daly 
would call " a moighty sight of illigant lying," on the 
part of the spirits. It so consoles your costermonger to 
think he can " chaff " the shade of Charlemagne ! 

This spirit (who, I may mention in passing, reappeared 
at my mental request after he had retired,) had hardly 
been gone an instant, when there came a light-complex- 
ioned, white-haired old man, a Mr. Jonathan Bartlett, 
taller than the diakka " Lord Byron," and dressed through- 
out in an American costume. He must have been wait- 
ing for his predecessor to retire, for he almost passed him 
at the door ; and the circumstance was noted in my book 
as another proof in favor of the apparitions being sorae> 
thing else than personations by the medium. 



328 AN AFRICAN JUGGLER 'S SPIRIT. 

■• Michalko " visited us again the next evening, and 
spoke to Mme. de Blavatsky in the Georgian tongue ; 
and, after two or three more forms had shown themselves, 
I saw one of the most singular creatures that ever excited 
the wonder of a "circle." He was a tall, spare negro, 
black as ink, and dressed in a curious costume, two 
features of which were very conspicuous. Upon his 
woolly head he had a coiffure, that would make a sensa- 
tion on Broadway. I could see an ornamented fillet, or 
hand, and on top of his head four horns with "bent tips, 
something like those of the chamois or some varieties of 
African antelope, such as the oryx. The points of the 
two in front were turned backward, and those of the two 
in rear, forward, while a brass or gilt ball hung suspended 
from each tip. 

Mme. de Blavatsky did not recognize him at first, 
but he stepped forward a pace or two, and she then saw 
before her the chief of a party of African jugglers whom 
she encountered once in Upper Egypt, at a celebration 
of the feast of " The Ramazan." The magical per- 
formances of his party upon that occasion, make one 
of the most incredible stories in the history of either 
Magic or Spiritualism, and one feat deserves place in 
such a book of weird experiences as this. Madame says 
that, in full sight of a multitude, comprising several hun- 
dred Europeans and many thousand Egyptians and Afri- 
cans, the juggler came out on a bare space of ground, 
leading a small boy, stark-naked, by the hand, and carry^ 
ing a huge roll of tape that might be tAvelve or eighteen 
inches wide. 

After certain ceremonies, he whirled the roll about 




JU6GUR FROM CLHTRAL AFRICA. 



'ACvHSixs-JEU 



SPIRIT FROM AFRICA. 



L 



JUGGLERY IN UPPER EGYPT. 331 

his head several times, and then flung it straight up into 
the air. Instead of falling back to earth after it had 
ascended a short distance, it kept on upward, unwind- 
ing and unwinding interminably from the stick, until it 
grew to be a mere speck, and finally passed out of sight. 
The juggler drove the pointed end of the stick into the 
ground, and then beckoned the boy to approach. Point- 
ing upward, and talking in a strange jargon, he seemed 
to be ordering the little fellow to ascend the self-suspended 
tape, which by this time stood straight and stiff, as if it 
were a board whose end rested against some solid sup- 
port up in mid-air. The boy bowed compliance, and 
began climbing, using his hands and feet as little " All 
Right " does when climbing Satsuma's balance-pole. The 
boy went higher and higher until he, too, seemed to pass 
into the clouds and disappear. 

The juggler waited five or ten minutes, and then, 
pretending to be impatient, shouted up to his assistant as 
if to order him down. No answer was heard, and no boy 
appeared ; so, finally, as if carried away with rage, the 
juggler thrust a naked sword into his breech-clout (the 
only garment upon his person), and climbed after the 
boy. Up and up and up, hand over hand, and step by 
step, he ascended, until the straining eyes of the multi- 
tude saw him no more. There was a moment's pause, 
and then a wild shriek came down from the sky, and a 
bleeding arm, as if freshly cut from the boy's body, fell 
with a horrid thud upon the ground. Then came another, 
then the two legs, one after the other, then the dismem- 
bered trunk, and, last of all, the ghastly head, every 
part streaming with gore and covering the ground. 



332 THE TAPE-CLIMBER. 

A second lad now stepped forward, and, gathering 
the mutilated fragments of his comrade into a heap, 
threw a dirty cloth over them and retired. Presently 
the juggler was seen descending as slowly and cau- 
tiously as he had ascended. He reached the ground at 
last, with his naked sword all dripping with blood. 
Paying no attention to the remains of his supposed 
victim, he went to rewinding his tape upon his stick, 
his audience meanwhile breaking out into cries of 
impatience and execration. When the tape was all 
rewound, he wiped his sword, and then, deliberately 
stepping to the bloody heap, lifted off the ragged quilt, 
and up rose the little tape-climber as hearty as ever, and 
bowed and smiled upon the amazed throng as though 
dismemberment were an after-breakfast pastime to 
which he had been accustomed from infancy. 

I have seen it stated in the papers that the late 
William H. Seward, ex-Secretary of State, witnessed a 
similar feat in India, while on his tour around the 
world. He saw a man climb a bare pole sixty feet 
high, standing in open air, and when he reached the 
top he mysteriously disappeared. After a while his 
feet reappeared, then his legs and body, and then he 
came down. It is a great pity that some of our enter- 
prising publishers could not induce Mme. de Blavatsky 
to write 6ut her memoirs, for they abound in such 
marvels as these. And, be it remembered, the great 
negro whom I saw at Chittenden was the chief of the 
very party who performed the marvel of diablerie in 
Egypt. 

But, whoever he was, or wherever he hails from, is it 



A WONDERFUL STORY. $$$ 

possible that William Eddy could get himself up, in 
his two-by-seven feet, pitch-dark cabinet, to look like 
this strange creature, without lamp, paint, looking- 
glass, soap, or water, and only a small black fringed 
shawl and piece of plaid horse-blanket, taken from 
serving their purpose as curtains, to be used as 
costume ? 

There are curious stories afloat in Egypt about the 
powers of the chiefs of this horned juggler's tribe, one 

of which, recited to me by Madame de B , is well 

worth preserving, as a match to the Grecian mytholog- 
ical fable of Europa. 

One of them had the reputation of being the 
greatest sorcerer ever known in that country. By 
conjurations he could evoke the shape of any person 
he chose, and make it do his bidding. He was aided 
by demons, or evil spirits of mighty power, who came 
and went at his beck and call, as unquestioningly as 
the genii of the ring and lamp did for the audacious 
Aladdin. 

One day he strolled into the village of Mis-Massia, 
near the river Nile; and, going from house to house, 
offered his services to do any little odd-job of diablerie 
that might be required. In Mis-Massia was a pretty 
maiden, named Esma, who had been abandoned by her 
sweetheart, Zanoni-Bey, and who asked the conjurer 
if he could not force the faithless one back to her feet. 
He said he could, if she could only procure for him a 
lock of Zanoni's hair, be it never so small an one. Not 
being able to approach the renegade herself, she sent 
her little brother, a lad about twelve years of age, on 



334 MAIDEN AND LOVER. 

the difficult mission. But he, finding his efforts likely 
to prove unsuccessful, stepped into a butcher's yard, 
and cut some hairs from the tail of a black bull that 
was waiting his turn to be slaughtered, and brought 
them to his sister, as taken from Zanoni's head. The 
deception was rendered possible from the fact that the 
lover's hair was very coarse and black, as much Arab 
hair is. 

Esma, with fear and trembling, delivered the lock to 
the magician, who began his mystic rites in her pres- 
ence ; thus, at least, showing us that he was no genuine 
clairvoyant, since he did not discover the cheat. He 
made his passes and genuflections, sprinkled his pow- 
ders, and muttered his Arabic charms, until the subser- 
vient powers of darkness manifested their presence by 
shaking the house to its foundations, and the air seemed 
full of strange and fearful whisperings. After a few 
more passes, the sorcerer exclaimed the talismanic 
words which signify that the spell is formed, and 
handing the lock of hair to the affrighted girl, received 
his fee, and departed. 

Impatiently she waited for night to come, and restore 
the truant Zanoni to her caresses. She decked herself 
in her bravest attire, and watched the unprophetic 
hours pass by, until the midnight call of the muezzin 
from the neighboring mosque betokened the fateful 
moment. Suddenly there was a noise like that of dis- 
tant thunder, the earth shook, the house-door flew open, 
and there, upon the threshold, she beheld a tall, black 
figure with horns. Taking it for the conjurer himself, 
she overwhelmed him with reproaches for his perfidy. 



THE INFA TUA TED B ULL. 335 

but in another moment the dark object disclosed itself 
as the empty skin of a slaughtered bull, standing erect 
upon its hind legs. She shrieked in mortal fright, but 
in vain ; the monster, as if carried away with a mad 
frenzy, precipitated itself upon her, and wrapped her 
in an embrace of death. Her cries were heard and her 
struggles witnessed by an old negro servant woman, 
the only other tenant of the house, who stood awhile, 
rooted to the floor with terror, and then fell in a dead 
swoon. 

Upon recovering her senses, the morning light shone 
dimly into the apartment, and there lay the poor Esma, 
dead and cold, enveloped in the bull's hide. The sor- 
cerer had rehabilitated the spirit of the beast, and 
endowed it with a mad affection for the love-lorn 
damsel. 

This story was told to Mme. de B by Elias 

Effendi, a dignitary residing at Mis-Massia, who assured 
her that it was generally believed throughout all that 
section of country. The adventure occurred only about 

a year before Mme. de B 's visit, and the hide of 

this African Europa's four-legged swain was exhibited 
to her in attestation of the truth of the narrative. 

Mr. Epes Sargent writes me from Boston, under date 

of December 3d, 1874, as follows: 

" By the way, that curious story of the feat witnessed by Mme. de 
Blavatsky, where the African juggler throws up a ladder or rope into 
the sky, is paralleled in a story, which you may find in a record book 
by George Lunt (Editor of the Boston Courier), giving reminiscences 
of Newburyport, and other places in New England. He relates an 
incident of the same kind (in some respects) as occurring somewhere 
in these parts, many years ago." 

I regret to say, that I have not been able to obtain 



3$6 THE MA GIC PAP YR US. 

access to Mr. Lunt's book in time to use the extract 
referred to by Mr. Sargent. I cannot imagine how 
such a thing could have occurred in this country, unless 
some vagrant Egyptian or Hindoo magician might 
have wandered this way. 

In his voluminous work entitled "Des rapports de 
l'Homme avec le Demon," (Paris Ed., 1863, Vol. I, p. 
15,) M. Bizouard tells us, upon the authority of Cha- 
bas' " Paphyrus Magique Harris," that at the highest 
antiquity, the arts of magic reached such a pass that 
spirits manifested themselves in full form, bronze 
statues were made to move and nod, living persons 
were made out of menh (an unfamiliar word. Perhaps 
it means an image of wax or clay, perhaps a plant. 
The tiny mandragora demon, tiot larger than a small 
doll, who attends upon the Egyptian sorcerers, is 
formed out of a withered plant, at a certain hour of the 
night, after certain incantations) ; and the bodies of liv- 
ing persons were taken possession of by evil spirits, 
who used them as habitations as long as they chose. 
This obsession is identical with what prevailed in the 
time of Christ, and the expulsion of these demons by 
him, finds its prototype in the same power exercised, 
according to these ancient Egyptian papyri, by the 
good divinity Khons. 

The ancient religion of Egypt, which was character- 
ized by magical practices, such as the one related by 
Madame Blavatsky, fell into decay in the time of Caesar, 
in consequence of the impoverishment of the country 
by a succession of internal and external wars, and the 
falling off in those revenues which had supported 



RAISING THE DEAD IN ROME. 337 

the priesthood and their temples. Salverte tells us (in 
his "Sciences Occultes: ou Essai sur la Magie," Paris, 
l8 5 6 , 3d Ed., p. 165-6) that many priests of the inferior 
orders, driven by necessity, betook themselves to Rome, 
where, in the public squares, for money, they declared 
prophecies, healed diseases, and evoked the apparitions 
of the dead. 

Modern Egyptians distinguish two kinds of Magic, 
which they term Er-Roo'hha'-nee and Es-See'miya : the 
former is spiritual magic, which is believed to effect its 
wonders by the agency of angels and genii, and by the 
mysterious virtues of certain names of God, and other 
supernatural means; the latter is natural and deceptive 
magic; which, it is believed by the less credulous 
among the Egyptians, finds its chief agents in certain 
perfumes and drugs, which affect the vision and imag- 
ination. (See Lane's " Modern Egyptians," 2 Vols., 
London, 1837; which forms part of the series known as 
* The Library of Entertaining Knowledge.") The true 
ijiagic is divided into 'il'wee (or high), and soo/'lee (or 
*Ow), the former being a science founded upon the 
Agency of God, of His angels, and good genii, and on 
Sther lawful mysteries; to be always employed for good 
purposes, and only attained and practiced by men of 
probity, who by tradition, or from books, learn the 
Barnes of those superhuman agents, and invocations 
ivhich insure compliance with their desires. The 
tpof'lee, or bad magic, is believed to depend upon the 
Agency of the devil and evil spirits, and unbelieving 
£enii ; and to be used for bad purposes, by bad men. 
*To this branch," says our author, "belongs the science 



338 THE RING AND LAMP. 

called, by the Arabs, es-Sehhr j which is a term they 
give to wicked enchantment." 

The tape and pole climbing tricks above narrated, as 
well as the enchantment by which poor Esma was 
deprived of life, in the suffocating embrace of the 
bull's hide, would, of course, be ascribed to the latter 
branch of the occult science. Perhaps, the wise men of 
America might embrace all of William Eddy's appari- 
tions within the same category ! This, however, would 
not be the case in the land of the Pharaohs, for the 
calling up of the dead is included in the mysteries 
practised by the professors of 'il'wee. It appears to 
make some difference what sort of spirits are evoked, 
and for what purpose. The thousand and one stories 
of Scheherezade are filled with descriptions of all these 
kinds of magic, and the wonderful things done by the 
exercise of the power of mortals over genii ; who of 
old were subject to the dominion of Solomon, and in 
later times are the slaves of whomsoever may wear the 
mystic ring, or rub the rusty lamp. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

SPIRITUALISM AGAINST RATIONALISM. 

IT is remarked by Lecky, in his " History of the rise 
and influence of the spirit of Rationalism in Europe," 
that, after the angry passions aroused by the Reforma- 
tion had subsided, and a more judicial spirit was 
awakened, the advanced minds of the Eighteenth Century 
began to view the religious question with calmer judg- 
ment, and more philosophical impartiality. Says he : 

" It was observed that every great change of belief had been pre- 
ceded by a great change in the intellectual condition of Europe, that 
the success of any opinion depended much less upon the force of its 
arguments, or upon the ability of its advocates, than upon the pre- 
disposition of society to receive it, and that that predisposition 
resulted from the intellectual type of the age. As men advance 
from an imperfect to a higher civilization, they gradually sublimate 
and refine their creed. Their imaginations insensibly detach them- 
selves from those grosser conceptions and doctrines that were formerly 
most powerful, and they sooner or later reduce all their opinions into 
conformity with the moral and intellectual standards which the new 
civilization produces. Thus, long before the Reformation, the 
tendencies of the Reformation were manifest. The revival of Greek 
learning, the development of art, the reaction against the schoolmen, 
had raised society to an elevation in which a more refined and less 
oppressive creed was absolutely essential to its well-being. 

" Luther and Calvin only represented the prevailing wants, and 
embodied them in a definite form. The pressure of the general 



340 HOW OPINIONS ARE FORMED. 

intellectual influences of the time determines the predispositions 
which ultimately regulate the details of belief ; and though all men 
do not yield to that pressure with the same facility, all large bodies 
are at last controlled." 

Speaking of the method by which persons usually 

arrive at opinions, in the investigation of new facts, Mr. 

Lecky observes : 

" Nothing can be more certain to an attentive observer, than that 
the great majority even of those who reason much about their 
opinions, have arrived at their conclusions by a process quite distinct 
from reasoning. They may be perfectly unconscious of the fact, but 
the ascendancy of old associations is upon them, and, in the over- 
whelming majority of cases, men of the most various creeds conclude 
their investigations by simply acquiescing in the opinions they have 
been taught. They insensibly judge all questions by a mental 
standard derived from education ; they proportion their attention 
and sympathies to the degree in which the facts and arguments 
presented to them support their foregone conclusions ; and thus 
speedily convince themselves that the arguments in behalf of their 
hereditary opinions are irresistibly cogent, and the arguments against 
them exceedingly absurd." 

I have quoted as much as this from this learned 
author, because it seems to define so satisfactorily the 
cause of the prevalent interest in Spiritualism, (especi- 
ally in the phase presented by the Eddy mediums), as 
well as the behavior of the churchmen, the philosophi- 
cal chemists, and the lay materialists, towards believers 
in the phenomena. 

The progress of Rationalism in Europe weakened 
the influence of the Church, challenged the sources of 
religious belief, and fostered scientific research. These 
causes, at work for two centuries, have brought about 
a crisis which threatens so violent a reaction from our 
old subserviency to ecclesiastical rule, that every 
vestige of spirituality is likely to be swept out of our 
nature, and a bald Rationalism to take its place. The 



POPULAR ANXIETY. 341 

masses, viewing the conflict, seeing the impending 
crisis, and bewildered at the progress of events that no 
power of theirs seems potent to control, turn with 
deep anxiety to the spiritual manifestations, as offer- 
ing the sole chance for successful resistance to the 
encroachments of remorseless scientific spirit upon the 
instinctive longing for and belief in immortality. 

Finally, the scientists, setting their opinions by the 
rule of precedent and education, impatiently listen to 
the narration of facts, which, contravening their pre- 
conceived notions as to the laws of gravity, of chemical 
combination, of the conservation and correlation of 
force, they regard as in the highest degree absurd. 
Lecky himself says, that at present, nearly all educated 
men receive an account of a miracle taking place in 
their own day, " With an absolute and even derisive 
incredulity, which dispenses with all examination of the 
evidence. Although they may be entirely unable to 
give a satisfactory explanation of some phenomena 
that have taken place, they never on that account 
dream of ascribing them to supernatural agency, such 
an hypothesis being, as they believe, altogether beyond 
the range of reasonable discussion." Exactly: but 
what these gentlemen do not consider, and what makes 
them appear so ridiculous, in the eyes of those who are 
brave enough to investigate these curious facts in the 
judicial spirit, is that these phenomena that have taken 
place are at the same time, not supernatural, not 
miracles, and not trickery. They happen according to 
law as does everything else, and if the class of men 
referred to by Lecky do not bestir themselves, the 



342 THE CHARMED CIRCLE. 

credit of discovering that law, and defining its forms 
of manifestation, will fall to persons outside the charmed 
circle of the Academy. 

A reasonable and philosophical spiritualistic belief 
is as far removed from the superstition of the Seven- 
teenth and Eighteenth Centuries, as it is from the 
degrading materialism of the last quarter of the Nine- 
teenth, which blots God out of the Universe, strips the 
soul of its aspirations for a higher existence beyond 
the grave, and bounds the life of man by the same 
limits as those within which the beast of the field, the 
bird of the air, or the fish of the sea has its being. 
I sought at Chittenden the material for the formation 
of such a belief, and if I cannot say that the Eddy 
manifestations warrant it, it is only because the things 
I saw, while apparently inexplicable upon any other 
than the spiritualistic hypothesis, were not happening 
under test conditions, and hence would not satisfy the 
judicial mind. 

In looking back through the history of Magic, Sor- 
cery, and Witchcraft, in all ages, it appears to me that 
most of the confusion in regard to the real nature of 
the so-called diabolical power, comes from two causes : 
(i) The belief in a personal Devil, powerful enough to 
cause rebellion in Heaven, divert the allegiance of a 
large portion of the angelic host, and be constantly at 
war with God ; thus affording to the superstitious a 
satisfactory ideal of an individualized Evil Power, 
which could send its demons to torment, and which 
could be invoked by spells, and propitiated by incanta- 
tions and sacrifices. (2) The empiricism of scientific 



BLACK MAGIC, AND WHITE. 343 

men, who either, (as in the XVIIth and XVIIIth Cen- 
turies,) yield to the prevalent anthropomorphic belief, 
or (as at present) coolly deny the occult origin of 
phenomena they are too indolent and cowardly to 
examine. 

The verification of these surprising facts of modern 
Spiritualism, clearly does not necessitate a return to the 
ignorant exorcisms of earlier times in Europe, or in- 
dorsement of the practices of modern "Black Magic," in 
the countries of the Orient. It would doubtless result 
in showing that, by the establishment of favoring con- 
ditions about us, we might enjoy intercourse with the 
highest spirits, as well as receive the visits of the most 
tricky, ignorant, or malicious. The Eddy materializa- 
tions, if proven true, while unquestionably the highest 
form of physical phenomena, cannot be regarded as 
comparable to the inspirational state, in which knowl- 
edge, wisdom, and thoughts of beauty pour into the 
receptive mind of the seer, from the sources of inspira- 
tion, and take the form of prophecy and poetry. Such 
men were Isaiah, Ezekiel, David, Jeremiah, and the 
other great Hebrews of those days ; and the difference 
between them and the Witch of Endor was just as 
great, and no other, than that between — say Swedenborg 
and William Eddy ; — the one, the type of the greatest 
possible spiritual ecstacy, the other, that of the most 
powerful physical mediumship. 

I have been struck with the different light in which 
the Eddy manifestations, and, in fact, the whole range 
of these modern phenomena, are regarded by the Prot- 
estant and Roman Catholic bodies. The former begin 



344 THE TWO CHURCHES. 

by denying their occurrence, except as examples of 
legerdemain ; but, when confronted with some pecu- 
liarly striking phenomenon, either attribute it to an 
occult force, under control of the medium, or circle, or, 
as a last refuge, find a satisfactory explanation in the 
direct interposition of the Devil. 

The Church of Rome, on the other hand, admits the 
facts without argument, and if they happen outside her 
own jurisdiction, passes them to the credit of Satan. I 
rode in the cars recently with a very intelligent young 
priest, who took this ground and cited to me passage 
after passage from the Fathers in its support. He even 
narrated, with evident interest, his own experience with 
Planchette, in company with several other priests and 
sundry laymen, upon which occasion the " little plank " 
answered mental questions framed in his mind in Latin, 
in the same language, and wrote Spanish, Greek, Latin, 
French, German, and Italian for various persons in the 
room ; the medium being an ignorant Irish girl. This, 
to his mind, was a clear case of diabolism, and, instead 
of testing the phenomena with scales or electrode, he 
was for resorting to "bell, book and candle," and a 
copious use of holy-water. 

This theory of diabolism, might commend itself to a 
mind predisposed to anthropomorphic belief, if the mani- 
festations were always of either a malicious or lying 
character ; or mere exhibitions of impish power to startle 
or amuse, like the magical feats of the Hindoo, Egyptian, 
and Mongolian sorcerers. 

The most devout Spiritualist would scarcely hesitate to 
ascribe to a very low grade of spirits, such marvels as the 



THE " MANDRAGORA." 345 

" mandragora," the transformations at Hindoo ceremo- 
nials, or the tape and pole climbing feats described in 
another chapter ; and he would not complain of a resort 
by the priests to the usual forms of exorcism, set down in 
the books of the Church, if such might comfort the 
faithful. But, on the other hand, it would seem to almost 
any one unreasonable that a mother, seeing her resur- 
rected child, in form as when alive, step out before her, 
should be asked to regard her darling one as either an 
imp of Satan, or as brought to her by devilish arts. So, 
too, it is revolting to one's feelings to believe that 
pure teachings, conveyed through mediums, are less 
admirable than they would be, if the person giving them 
voice, wore cape and stole and chasuble. 

" The simplest peasant who observes a truth, 

And from a fact deduces principle, 

Adds solid treasure to the public wealth." 

The occurrence of the spiritualistic phenomena being 
conceded, the very fact that this belief in their diabolic 
origin still has a hold upon the public mind, is another 
argument why the subject should be thoroughly investi- 
gated ; for it is a reproach that in this boasted age of 
knowledge and science, so important a matter should be 
left to conjecture. If we are beset by ministers of Evil, it 
is time we learn how to array against them a better class 
of spirits. It is not manly to surrender at discretion. 

I was talking the other day with a professor in a 
denominational college, about the Eddys, when, after 
hearing fact after fact, and receding foot by foot from his 
original theory of imposture, he said that, in his opinion, 
the less Christians had to do with such things the better. 
In other words, he would retire within the Sanctuary, 



346 CO WARDL Y EDITORS. 

make the sign of the Cross, and let the Devil go up and 
down among the people, to entice, torment, and devour ! 

I have spoken of the cowardice of men of science who 
refuse to investigate, and content themselves with the 
assumption of an attitude of contemptuous indifference ; 
but what shall be said of Editors, who secretly believe, 
but openly denounce ? It is within my personal knowl- 
edge, that several persons of this class, among the most 
influential in their profession, are firm believers in the 
reality of the Spiritualistic phenomena, and yet allow 
the columns of their journals to be filled with articles 
exhibiting no less ignorance and malevolence than 
coarse wit and sarcasm. In what estimation should 
such panderers be held by conscientious men ? It is 
perhaps too much to ask persons of weak moral char- 
acter to champion an unfashionable creed in advance of 
its general adoption — such work is reserved for men of 
heroic mould — but they might preserve silence, and not 
debase themselves, by joining in the hue and cry against 
what they believe to be the Truth. They might keep 
their papers, and not their influence, for sale. 

Among the interesting queries that have been pro- 
pounded to me, during the past three months, is one 
coming from the Secretary of a well-known religio- 
socialistic community, to the following effect : 

" If you could manage to get a materialized spirit to 
vanish from before your eyes in a lighted room, holding 
in its hand some small living animal, say a canary-bird, 
and afterwards re-materialize it ; and if the bird should, 
after its resurrection, hop about, sing, chirp, etc., a good 
many people would be bold enough to believe that the 



SPIRIT-ANIMALS. 347 

same thing could be done with a baby. How would 
that affect ordinary physical death ?" 

My answer to this is very simple. Firstly, Chitten- 
den was no place for me to try philosophical experi- 
ments, neither the Eddys nor their spirit-friends feeling 
friendly enough towards me to grant me many more 
favors than other visitors; secondly, I have already 
described the appearance of several babies, of whom 
no traces could be found after the seance, and who, 
therefore, must have disappeared as mysteriously as 
they came ; thirdly, I saw, on the evening of October 
8th, the following thing occur : Honto sprang out of 
the cabinet soon after the circle was formed, and danced 
about the platform, like a cork on rippling water. 
She seemed as if enchanted to be in motion, and as 
if she had a reserve of power sufficient to enable her 
to do almost anything that any living woman could. 

After awhile, she went into the cabinet for a moment, 
and, reappearing, was followed out by a curious little 
animal that hugged the floor, and waddled its short 
legs along, in a most comical fashion. As soon as 
our first feeling of astonishment passed off, we fell to 
laughing at this latest importation from the spirit- 
world. But to old Mrs. Cleveland, who was at her end 
of the platform, as usual, it was no laughing matter, for 
when Honto moved towards her, with the little creature 
after her, the good dame screamed with fright, gathered 
her petticoats about her limbs, and mounted upon her 
chair. The spirit-squaw was convulsed with merri- 
ment, and the room rang with our sympathetic shouts. 
She pulled Mrs. Cleveland down, who ran to the other 



348 HON TO 'S FL YING SQUIRREL. 

end of the platform and Honto followed her up ; until 
finally, in her terror, the old lady clasped her arms about 
the roguish squaw, and retreated into a corner. By this 
time the animal had disappeared, and it was a most 
amusing thing to see Mrs. Cleveland looking all about, 
over the tops of her spectacles, as if the dreaded appari- 
tion had gone down some crack in the floor. Her con- 
fidence restored, she moved towards her chair, but 
Honto, laughing with us behind her back and making 
gestures to command our attention, touched and 
caused her to face about ; when suddenly, under the 
very edge of her skirt, the creature reappeared. This 
was too much for human endurance, and the massive 
matron with a despairing shriek leaped down the steps, 
and rejoined the circle; Honto retreating into the 
cabinet, with her pet at her heels. Upon inquiry of 
Mrs. Eaton, we learned that this was Honto's tame 
flying squirrel. The same authority declared that in 
the spirit-world people surround themselves with the 
objects they most loved on Earth, and among them 
birds and flowers. I have mentioned this circumstance 
as pertinent to the inquiry propounded in the above 
query, whether living animals can be made to disappear 
and reappear, in lighted rooms by spirit-power. 

A still more curious thing was done in one of 
Horatio's dark-circles on the evening of April 25th 
last, the nature of which is explained in the following 
certificate from a physician, who was present. 

Chittenden, Oct. 21st, 1874. 

I hereby certify that in a dark-circle, held on or about the 25th of 
April last, at the Eddy house, the following incident occurred. The 
spirit-girl, Mayflower, came running across the room, her foot-sleps 



A DEAD SPARROW REVIVED. 349 

being plainly audible by all, and said to a lady present, " Oh ! 
Mrs. K. I have caught a bird for you. I am going to make you a 
present of it. Hold your hands." A sparrow was then placed in 
the lady's hands, who afterwards told me that she felt both of May- 
flower's little hands as she transferred the bird to her own. After it 
had been examined by all who wished, by lamplight, the light was 
again extinguished, and "George Dix" said to me, "Doctor, I want 
you to take that bird." Having done as requested, I was told to 
strangle it, without breaking its neck, or crushing any of the vital 
organs. I pinched its neck until after the heart had ceased to beat, 
and it lay in my palm, limp and lifeless, I dropped it on the floor, 
and it made no motion. I then, by request, placed it under a glass 
tumbler, and covering it over with a small plate, put the tumbler 
on a chair drawn up before me, so that I could place my feet upon 
the rungs. We were requested to sing, but we had not got through 
with more than one verse, when George Dix called for a light ; and 
the bird was found to be fluttering about and making attempts to 
escape from the tumbler. It was as lively as if nothing had hap- 
pened to it. I must say that the phenomenon was the more remark- 
able, as it occurred in a room every window and door of which was 
closed and sealed with strips of paper. 

R. Hodgson, M. D., Stoneham, Mass. 

There is but one theory, except the spiritualistic one, 

to account for this affair, and that is, that a second 

bird was substituted for the first after the light 

was extinguished. But, as the bird was in a glass, 

covered with a saucer, and this upon a chair at Doctor 

Hodgson's knees, with his feet resting upon the rungs, 

it would seem rather difficult to do the trick without 

discovery ; unless, (and this is what destroys the whole 

value of the manifestation,) the first bird, and tumbler 

and all, were quietly replaced by duplicates, under 

cover of the singing. Doctor Hodgson, however, 

asserts to me, in the most positive manner, that he 

identified the bird by a peculiar disturbance of its 

feathers, caused by his rude pinching of its tiny throat. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SPIRITS AS CARRIERS. 

AT a session of the London Dialectical Society's 
committee, held on Tuesday, April 27th, 1869, 
Dr. Edmunds in the chair, among other witnesses 
examined was Mr. Burns, who described certain phe- 
nomena that had occurred in the presence of a medium 
named Mrs. Marshall. 

When in London, in 1870, I desired to have a sitting 
with Mr. Home, but as that celebrated personage was 
not in the city, I was advised that this Mrs. Marshall was 
considered the next best medium in England. I visited 
the lady at her residence in Bennett street, St. James 
street, Piccadilly, and saw and heard such wonderful 
things, that I am prepared to give respectful attention to 
the statements of Mr. Burns and other witnesses. Mr. 
Burns said that, one night, a ripe peach was brought and 
placed in his wife's hand by an invisible power, and Mr. 
Thomas Sherratt exhibited a number of specimens of 
direct spirit-writing, executed at Mrs. Marshall's house 
in a fully-lighted room. Mrs. Marshall told me herself 
that objects of various kinds were often brought into her 
circles by the spirits, and either laid upon the table or in 
the hands or laps of persons sitting in the circle. Once, 



REFRESHMENTS FURNISHED B Y SPIRITS. 35 1 

in a darkened room, at a sitting in mid-winter, a quantity 
of grapes and other hot-house fruit, estimated to weigh 
thirty or forty pounds, was piled up on the table ; and 
once a spirit-hand opened one of hers and laid in her 
palm several jewels of fine water. As to flowers of every 
description, they were brought so often that she could 
not recall the separate instances. 

At the same session of the same committee of the 
Dialectical Society, Miss Houghton produced some very 
interesting drawings done by spiritualistic agency, and 
stated, among other things, that, on the 20th of April, 
1867, in the presence of Mrs. General Ramsay, Mrs. 
Gregory, Mrs. Cromwell Varley, Mrs. Pearson, Miss 
Nockolds, Miss Wallace, and Miss Nicholl (now the wife 
of Mr. Guppy), she suddenly felt something on her head, 
and upon striking a light discovered that she was crowned 
with "a lovely wreath of everlasting flowers." 

On the 3d of October, 1867, at a circle composed of 
eighteen ladies and gentlemen, among them several of 
distinction, fruit of various kinds was brought. Says the 
witness : " By raps the spirits desired me to wish for a 
fruit, and I chose a banana, which they promised me, 
and then said, ' Now all may wish,' which they did, for 
various fruits, sometimes having their wishes negatived, 
but in most instances agreed to. The fruits were then 
brought in the order in which they had been wished for. 
One lady said, ' Why do you not ask for vegetables ; an 
onion, for instance ? ' and even as she said it the onion 
came into her lap. I will give you a list of the things 
brought ; a banana, two oranges, a bunch of white grapes, 
a bunch of black grapes, a cluster of filberts, three 



352 A FLORAL DISPLAY. 

walnuts, about a dozen damsons, a slice of candied 
pineapple, three figs, two apples, an onion, a peach, some 
almonds, four very large grapes, three dates, a potato, 
two large pears, a pomegranate, two crystallized green- 
gages, a pile of dried currants, a lemon, and a large 
bunch of raisins, which, as well as the figs and dates, 
were quite plump, as if they had never been packed, but 
had been brought straight from the drying ground." 

Signor Damiami testified before the same committee 
that, at various seances held in rooms with closed win- 
dows and locked doors, fresh flowers had been showered 
on the company. At Baron Guldenstubbe's house the 
flowers were so numerous that they " would have filled a 
large basket, and the fact they were perfectly fresh and 
besprinkled with dew * * * would have precluded any, 
the faintest suspicion of ' crinoline mystification ' or 
sleight of hand." " I must not omit mentioning," con- 
tinued the Signor, " that, on examining the flowers, some 
of which still remain in my possession [after a lapse of 
two years — H. S. O.], we perceived that the ends of the 
stems presented a blackened and burnt appearance. On 
our asking the reason of this, we were told that the elec- 
tricity had been the potent 'nipper' employed." 

Mr. Samuel Guppy, at page 371 of the Society's report, 
describes a seance with the Spiritual Society of Florence 
(Italy), at which the question whether spirits could dis- 
tinguish colors in the dark was effectually answered : 
" A noise was heard on the table, and the light showed a 
heap of sugar-plums of all colors mixed together — about 
a handful. Light put out again ; Ave heard a rattling, 
lighted the candle and found the sugar-plums all assorted 



CARRYING OF STONES, Etc. 353 

in little heaps of separate colors." At another seance of 
the same society some of the most eminent Florentine 
literati being present, the room was, at Mr. Guppy's 
request, made very warm by the spirits. First came a 
shower of fresh flowers which fell all about the table, 
while Mrs. Guppy's hands were held. The light was put 
out again, and in ten minutes an awful crash was heard 
on the table as if the chandelier had fallen down. On 
lighting the candle we found a large lump of ice, about 
a foot in length and one and a half inches thick, which had 
fallen on the table with such force that it was broken." 

I might quote many similar instances, going to show 
that the transportation of material objects, sometimes 
from very remote places, is not an uncommon circum- 
stance in the experience of those who have investigated 
the phenomena of Spiritualism ; but these will suffice. 

From what has already been related of the Eddy 
mediums in my preceding chapters, it will occasion no 
surprise, when I state that on many occasions, if the 
testimony of eye-witnesses maybe accepted, objects have 
been dropped on the Chittenden circle-room floor, or 
laid in the hands of persons in attendance. I have seen 
among other things, a large stone, weighing some sixty 
pounds, a cart-wheel, two large mother-of-pearl shells, an 
ear of Egyptian corn (said to have come from a mummy's 
tomb), a specimen of a rare mineral, a gold vest-chain, a 
heavy gold ring, two small spotted shells, a miniature 
ivory die for a watch " charm," a small quartz-crystal, 
and a cut white carnelian seal-stone — that were said to 
have been brought by invisible carriers. The crystal and 
carnelian were placed in my own hand at two different 



354 GREENBACKS PRODUCED. 

dark-circles, but it happened in the dark and so I cannot 
vouch for their genuineness, any more than I can for that 
of either of the other articles. 

Horatio Eddy tells me that he has been the frequent 
recipient of these ghostly attentions. Once " George 
Dix " put a spotted snake on his bed ; once he brought 
him a $5 bill to give to one Riley Allen, a sick neighbor; 
once a bill of like amount for a Mr. Barker ; once a sum 
of money to defray a child's funeral expenses ; and once, 
for himself, a silver-mounted pistol, the seven barrels of 
which were all loaded except one, which the spirit dis- 
charged himself, frightening Horatio out of his wits with 
the idea that burglars were in the room. 

One gentleman whom I met at the Eddy homestead, 
told me of an instance within his own knowledge, in 
which seven different communications were written, on an 
equal number of pieces of paper of as many different 
colors, and sewed, each with silk of a color to match the 
paper, upon a child's pocket-handkerchief. Strangest of 
all, upon each paper was stitched a lock of hair, pur- 
porting to be that of the spirit writing the communica- 
tion, and which they alleged they brought from their own 
graves. As some of them had been dead many years, the 
latter assertion may be taken for what it is worth. 

Another gentleman visitor asserts that, last January, at * 
his request, he had brought to him some new potatoes, 
which must have come from afar, as the snow lay deep 
over the whole of this northern country. 

I am witness to the fact that one evening in October, 
at a dark-circle, a lady who had brought as a present for 
" Mayflower," a picture of a bunch of roses, painted upon 



GEORGE RALPH ' S CER TIEICA TE. 355 

a Bristol board sheet of, say, 8x12 inches, had it taken 

from her hand, and after the circle it could not be found, 

although I searched the room thoroughly. 

Citizens of Utica will recognize in the signature attached 

to the following document, the name of one of their most 

estimable fellow-townsmen, a man of high character for 

probity and truthfulness : 

Chittenden, October 21st, 1874. 
Dear Sir : Please add to what you have already published, the 
fact that, at a circle held in the lower sitting-room of the Eddy 
homestead, on the evening of August 27th, 1873, the doors and win- 
dows being closed and sealed, a stone weighing sixty-four pounds, 
was suddenly dropped at my feet. I had noticed the same stone 
lying outside the house during the day. 

George Ralph, Utica, N. Y. 
Colonel Olcott. 

But I doubt if any circle ever witnessed a more aston- 
ishing spiritual feat than that which I am about to relate. 

The evening of October 24th was as bright as day with 
the light of the moon, and, while there was a good deal 
of moisture in the air, the atmospheric conditions would, 
I suppose, have been regarded as favorable for manifes- 
tations. In the dark-circle, as soon as the light was 
extinguished, " George Dix," addressing Mme. de Blav- 
atsky, said : " Madame, I am now about to give you a 
test of the genuineness of the manifestations in this circle, 
which I think will satisfy not only you, but a skeptical 
world beside. I shall place in your hands the buckle of 
a medal of honor worn in life by your brave father, and 
buried with his body in Russia. This has been brought 
to you by your uncle, whom you have seen materialized 
this evening." Presently I heard the lady utter an excla- 
mation, and, a light being struck, we all saw Mme. de B. 



356 BUCKLE FROM A RUSSIAN GRA VE. 

holding in her hand a silver buckle of a most curious 
shape, which she regarded with speechless wonder. 

When she recovered herself a little, she announced 
that this buckle had, indeed, been worn by her father, 
with many other decorations, that she identified this par- 
ticular article by the fact that the point of the pin had 
been carelessly broken off by herself many years ago ; 
and that, according to universal custom, this, with all his 
other medals and crosses, must have been buried with 
her father's body. The medal to which this buckle 
belongs, was one granted by the late Czar to his officers, 
after the Turkish campaign of 1828. The medals were 
distributed at Bucharest, and a number of the officers 
had buckles similar to this made by the rude silversmiths 
of that city. Her father died July 15th, 1873, and she, 
being in this country, could not attend his obsequies. As 
to the authenticity of this present, so mysteriously 
received, she possessed ample proof, in a photographic 
copy of her father's oil portrait, in which this very buckle 
appears, attached to its own ribbon and medal. 

It will be imagined that I felt a deep anxiety to see 
the picture in question, and later, my desire was gratified. 
In this chapter, I now am able to present to the reader 
sketches of the spirit's present, and the whole decora- 
tion; the former copied from life, the latter from the 
photograph. Both are drawn larger than the natural 
size, and the inscription on the medal has been furnished 
by Mme. de B. herself. Was there ever a " manifesta- 
tion " more wonderful than this ? A token dug by 
unknown means from a father's grave and laid in his 
daughter's hand, five thousand miles away, across an 




M£ SP/RITS fi/?£S£/fr. 




TMEBVC/UFANDyttftfAl fftm '7tf£ P0RTRA17* 



THE KUCKLE AND MEDAL. 



TIMING THE SPIRITS. 359 

ocean! A jewel from the breast of a warrior sleeping 
his last sleep in Russian ground, sparkling in the candle- 
light in a gloomy apartment of a Vermont farm-house ! 
A precious present from the tomb of her nearest and 
best beloved of kin, to be kept as a perpetual proof that 
death can neither extinguish the ties of blood nor long 
divide those who were once united and desire reunion' 
with one another ! 

I kept a minute of the time in William's materializing 
circle that evening. It began at ten minutes of seven, 
p. m., and closed at five minutes of eight. In the inter- 
vening sixty-five minutes, eleven different spirit-forms 
appeared. Honto remained in sight five minutes, old Mr. 
Brown two and a half minutes, Chester Packard eighteen 
seconds, William — his brother — seventeen seconds. The 
intervals between the appearances of some of the forms, 
'were respectively 4 minutes 45 seconds, 3:10, 2:47, I:I 3> 
and 1 minute. Mrs. Eddy's spirit appeared and addressed 
us, saying some friendly words to me personally, from 
within the cabinet. Her last sentences grew fainter and 
fainter, as though she were receding from us farther and 
farther, until her voice was lost in the distance. 

Among the most noticeable forms to present themselves, 
was one who seemed to be either a Hindoo coolie or an 
Arab athlete. He was dark-skinned, of short stature, a 
lean, wiry, active form, with no more superfluous fat on 
his frame than has a greyhound in working condition. 
The artist, writing to me of him, says : " He left a more 
vivid impression on my mind than any other spirit. I 
can see him now, perfectly — long, mere bone and sinew, 
with a cat-like suppleness. For dress, a closely-fitting 



360 ANOTHER RUSSIAN VISITOR. 

vest, seemingly cotton, drawers tucked into what might 
have been socks or gaiters, a sash about his loins, and 
upon his head a dark red handkerchief." 

He came to visit Mme. de Blavatsky, and made her a 
profound obeisance : but she failed to recognize him. 
Nevertheless, she showed no such hesitancy about another 
of her visitors. The curtain was lifted, and out stepped 
a gentleman of so marked an appearance as to make it 
absurd to imagine that William Eddy could be attempt- 
ing to personate a character in this instance. He was a 
portly personage, with an unmistakable air of high breed- 
ing, dressed in an evening suit of black cloth, with a 
frilled white shirt and frilled wristbands. About his neck 
he wore the Greek cross of St. Anne, attached to its 
appropriate ribbon. At first Mme. de B. thought that 
her father stood before her, but, as the figure advanced 
another step or two towards her, thus bringing himself to 
within five or six feet of where she sat the spirit greeted 
her in the Russian language, and said " Djadja " (uncle), 
She then recognized the familiar features of her father's 
brother, to whom he bore a very strong resemblance in 
life. This was M. Gustave A. Hahn, late President of 
the Criminal Court at Grodno, Russia, which dignified 
office he held for twelve years. This gentleman, who 
died in 1861, must not be confounded with his name- 
sake and cousin, Count Gustave Hahn, the Senator, 
who is living in St. Petersburg at the present moment 




ARAK, RUSSIAN, AND INDIAN. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

TESTS CONTINUED. 

OF all Mr. Crookes' statements concerning his three 
years' experiences with the spirit " Katie King," 
none excited more wonder than that about his 
being allowed to cut off a lock of her hair. The very- 
idea that so immaterial a thing as a spirit — a something 
less substantial than the very wind that blows, a breath, 
a hazy vapor, which, even when seen by mortal eye, 
has seemed no more solid than the mist of morning — 
that this unsubstantial nothing should not only be able 
to exert dynamic energies, but hand over to the bold 
philosopher a ringlet cut from her own head, as a 
maiden might give a tress to her lover, was on its face 
absurd. But, nevertheless, it was true, and the same 
favor has been extended to several others, by this and 
other spirits. I have already stated that I saw the 
" Witch of the Mountain " give one of her grizzly locks 
to Judge Bacon, and the incident related above, in this 
chapter, tells of seven different keepsakes of the same 
kind being given by the spirits, at one time, to one 
person. The artist in one of his sketches represents old 
Mrs. Cleveland in the act of cutting a lock from Honto's 



364 UONTO 'S HAIR EXAMINED. 

head. I know of at least three different persons to 
whom Honto gave pieces of her own hair, a portion of 
one of which I have now in my possession. It is of a 
stiff, wiry texture, entirely free from gray, and has been 
fully identified, by an expert of twenty years' experi- 
ence in the manufacture of hair goods, as of Indian 
origin. His affidavit is as follows: 

State of Vermont, ) 
County of Rutland, j ' 

Henry Williams, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is a 
native of New York city, a hair-worker by trade. That he worked 

four years for Raufuss, of Chatham street, New York, the 

largest hair-manufacturer in the said city : and ten years for Edward 
Phalon, also of the said city. Altogether, he has had twenty years 
experience in the manufacture of hair, and is so familiar with the 
hair of various kinds used in the trade, as to be able to detect the 
nationality and quality of any specimen exhibited to him. 

And deponent, having been allowed to examine a specimen of 
hair shown him by Mr. H. S. Olcott, and designated as " No. I," 
declares the same to be of Indian origin, and from its length and 
quality, must have been taken from the head of a squaw. The 
sample marked " No. 2," deponent cut himself from the head of an 
Indian squaw in the city of Albany, N. Y., on the T6th instant, at 
the request of said Olcott, for purposes of comparison. Specimen 
" No. 3," deponent says is American hair. The specimen " No. 1 " 
he would know anywhere as Indian, and he cannot be mistaken as 
to the fact. Henry Williams. 

Witness : M. L. Salsbury, 



State of Vermont, ) 
County of Rutland, ) ' 

Personally appeared Henry Williams, of Rutland, County of Rut- 
land, State of Vermont, to me known, and made oath to the above 
affidavit, this gth day of December, 1874. 

G. R. Bottum, Notary Public. 

The " Specimen No. 1 " referred to, is the lock pur- 
porting to have been cut from Honto's head. " Speci- 
men No. 2 " was cut by Mr. Williams, at my request, 
from the head of an Indian woman, who lives, during 



A CLAIRVOYANT INSPECTS IT. 365 

the winter months in Albany, N. Y., and in summer 
goes into camp with her tribe. "Specimen No. 3" 
was cut by me from William Eddy's head. I submitted 
the first and third specimens to the expert without 
explanation, and his judgment was given upon them 
immediately after they came into his hands. When he 
pronounced No. 1 Indian hair, I tried to discourage 
the idea, by suggesting that it was taken from some 
old wig, or from the forelock of a colt's head, but he 
persisted, and said he would make his affidavit to the 
fact of its real origin, in any court, at any time. 

I may also mention the rather interesting circum- 
stance, that, a few days since, I handed this Honto hair 
to a boy clairvoyant, fourteen years of age, and the son 
of a physician, who instantly said : " Why, this hair 
came from a spirit's head !" I said: " Nonsense ! How 
could I get hair from a spirit's head?" to which he 
replied: "I don't know; but this did come from a 
spirit ; and there she is, in that room, smiling at me, 
and holding her hair out for me to compare this with. 
It's the same, identical hair." I said : " I see no spirit. 
If she is here, ask her name." The lad conversed with 
great earnestness with the invisible presence, and finally 
said : " Pahontus ? — Pahotus ? — what do you say it is ? 
Ah ! yes — Honto — that's it. She says it is Honto. She 
gave it to another man, and he gave it to you." Now, 
I had not mentioned a word concerning the hair to the 
boy, or any one else in the room ; in fact, I had never 
exchanged a word with him before ; the hair was in 
my locket, and taken out and handed to him without 
comment. The theory of mind-reading is sufficient, 



366 BELL RUNG UNDER GLASS. 

perhaps, to account for the incident; but as it is 
interesting in this connection, I relate it. 

Another of the series of mechanical experiments 
attempted by me was suggested by Mr. Crookes' first 
article in his Quarterly. He said: "The Spiritualist 
tells of rooms and houses being shaken even to injury 
by superhuman power. The man of science merely 
asks for a pendulum to be set vibrating when it is in a 
glass-case and supported on solid masonry." 

It occurred to me, that in the absence of the means 
to try so conclusive an experiment as this, I might at 
least get the spirits to ring a bell under a glass cover, 
and I was promised that this should be done. Accord- 
ingly, on the evening of October 12th, in the light- 
circle that followed William's materializing seance, I 
placed my small table-gong upon a tambourine, and 
inverted a tumbler over it. I was not allowed to hold 
the tambourine myself, and so, in my eyes, all value in 
the experiment as a scientific test was destroyed. 
William Eddy took my place, and I was asked to step 
a little back. The light was then ordered to be lowered, 
and we waited for some minutes in silence. At length 
I heard a faint sound as of the bell struck inside the 
tumbler. It was almost inaudible, but still an unmis- 
takable sound, and while we listened it was repeated 
twice almost as feebly. But finally the little bell rang 
out twice so that all could hear it, and all agreed that 
the sound came from within the tumbler. 

This inconclusive result of what should have been 
an interesting experiment, is of a piece with many 
things that happened to me in the course of my long 



MY POSITION IN THE EDD Y TAMIL Y. 367 

and wearisome investigation at the Eddy house. So far 
from the importance of my labor being recognized, 
and all reasonable facilities afforded, I was kept con- 
stantly at a distance, as though I were an enemy 
instead of an unprejudiced observer. As to the family 
realizing any feeling of gratitude for my disinterested 
defence of their character before the public, the idea 
apparently never crossed their minds. On the con- 
trary, I was constantly made to feel that my toleration 
as a member of the household was a favor for which I 
should be grateful, and all the kind and polite treat- 
ment I could give them, individually and collectively, 
scarcely availed to make them grant me one favor 
more than they bestowed upon any visitor. Other 
persons of both sexes, strangers to them, were at 
different times permitted to sit close to the platform, 
upon it, and within two feet of the cabinet door ; to 
shake hands with Honto, to dance with her, to look 
into her very eyes, feel her hair, and measure heights 
with her, while I never enjoyed one of these favors. I 
never had a private seance under test conditions, and a 
dozen simple but crucial tests, reflecting in nowise 
upon the honor of the mediums, but calculated to 
place them in an honorable light, and satisfy the most 
doubting skeptic of the genuineness of the phenomena, 
were not even mentioned by me, for fear that I might 
get my dismissal before my work was done. 

It was this state of things that kept me in that gloomy 
house, amid such unpleasant conditions, two months, 
to get what I might and ought to have secured in two 
weeks. I stayed and bore everything because, having 



368 NO FA VORS SHO WN ME. 

once undertaken to accomplish a given thing, it was not 
my nature to abandon the task while life remained. 

I have said this much in no spirit of complaint, but 
only from a sense of justice to all concerned ; to myself, 
because the public should know that I have neither been 
favored beyond others nor have any personal preferences 
to gratify in saying what has been said in favor of these 
Eddy boys ; to the mediums, because it seems to me that 
if they were nothing but common tricksters, their first 
impulse, would have been to curry favor with me and try 
to influence the tone of my writing. I have also been 
prompted to this explanation, by the fact that various 
newspapers have given their readers to understand that a 
greater reliance might be placed upon my story, from the 
fact that my intimacy with the Eddys, and the superior 
facilities granted me, put me, as it were, inside the ring, 
and I had seen, heard, and felt more than any ordinary 
observer could possibly have done. For what I have 
seen, heard, or felt, I am in nowise indebted to the favor 
of the Eddy family, but simply to fair natural powers of 
observation, supplemented by a sort of grim, bull-dog 
stubbornness, and a determination to do impartial justice, 
that kept me at a post I had once assumed. 

But it affords me pleasure whenever I receive evidence 
from disinterested persons that is corroborative of the 
genuineness of the Eddy manifestations. I am more 
than willing to have my personal prejudices against the 
brothers, as individuals, overborne by proofs of their real 
mediumistic powers. Of such a nature, is the following 
certificate from a well-known architect of Hartford, who 
visited Chittenden a twelvemonth since : 



WHA T A HARTFORD MAN SA W. 369 

Hartford, Conn., December 24th, 1874. 
Col. H. S. Olcott, 

Dear Sir — In answer to your request for a statement from me of 
what I saw at the Eddys', in Chittenden, I have this to say : 

My first and only visit to those remarkable mediums, was in the 
fall of 1873. I attended the light and dark seances held during 
three evenings. The facilities afforded me for close and careful 
investigation were unusually good. It was my privilege to examine 
Wm. Eddy on two occasions before he entered the " cabinet," which 
was an old closet, off the south room, down stairs, and under the 
stairs. In my examination of Mr. Eddy's person, just before his 
entering the closet, I went as far as a decent regard for propriety 
would permit. I removed his coat, unbuttoned his vest, placed my 
hands beneath the waistband of his pants, and fully satisfied myself 
that all the clothing he had about him was his usual farm dress — a 
brown check gingham shirt, coat, pants, and vest. Any person after 
making such an examination as I did, could have but one conclusion, 
and that, that Wm. Eddy could not possibly have concealed about 
his person, the different costumes that were afterwards seen during 
the seances. The closet being examined before and after the seance, 
and nothing found but its bare walls, the idea of trickery on the part 
of Wm. Eddy was too silly to be entertained for one moment. 

The closet has been often described by different writers. I did 
not measure it, but judge its size to be 4 by 8 feet. It was evidently 
plastered when the house was built, rather coarsely done (the marks 
of the trowel being plainly seen), flush down with the base boards, 
which were perhaps 7 inches wide. The floor was the same undis- 
turbed old work, put down when the house was erected, To talk of 
panels, traps, or possible openings where a confederate could assist, 
is worse than nonsense ; nothing of the kind could possibly be there 
without being detected by an experienced architect like myself. If 
costumes were taken in there, it must have been when from fifteen 
to twenty individuals were looking at the door, and as I sat directly 
opposite and within ten feet of it, I can safely say that such a thing 
was impossible. The different costumes seen during the three 
evenings of my stay, would have filled a large sized Saratoga trunk. 
The first object seen each night, and that in less than ten seconds 
after Wm. Eddy had disappeared behind the shawl which hung over 
the door, was a clean, white, naked hand and arm, thrust out from 
behind the shawl. It was evidently a lady's hand and arm. Honto 
made her appearance next, on each evening. The second night she 
lighted a friction match which had been placed in the closet for her 
use, and held the blazing stick directly before her face so that every 
person in the room saw her Indian face with perfect distinctness. 



370 CLOSE OBSERVATION. 

After retiring behind the shawl, an Indian woman next appeared, 
dressed entirely different and in the exact costume of the squaws of 
the St. Regis tribe. This was a striking and sudden change, and a 
very remarkable incident withal. The dress was a blue petticoat or 
underskirt, with a yellow border around the bottom, and a yellow 
stripe woven into the cloth, six or seven inches above ; moccasins, 
leggins, and the usual tape windings around and above the ankles, 
were all to be seen. It was not Honto, but some other Indian 
maiden. The change of costume must have been made in less than 
one minute, if it was a trick. The forms of men neatly dressed in 
black, came out, with their white linen bosoms and cuffs plain 
enough to be seen, to satisfy all that they were not Wm. Eddy, who- 
ever else they might be. One person, nearly half a head taller than 
"Wm. Eddy, came out, and was recognized by several people from 
Rutland. I saw the features plainly of several persons, who, had I 
ever known them, I could have recognized at once ; my position 
being so near, and being fortunately blest with good eyes. 

In Horatio's light seance, it was my privilege to sit for the ring 
test. I positively know the ring was in a gentleman's hand in front 
of me, when I prepared for the test by taking Horatio's right hand 
in my right, and his left hand in ?}iy left (I am particular about this, 
for the reason that I have seen the performance differently described). 
The gentleman holding the ring passed it up, and I saw, while hold- 
ing both of Horatio's hands, a hand above the curtain take the ring 
from the gentleman, and with a sudden shudder on the part of 
Horatio, the ring flew from his right arm, on to mine with such 
force, that it hurt me severely , as it struck the joint of my thumb in 
passing over. A guitar lying in my lap, the strings all in sight, and 
a lamp burning on the table within three feet of myself, played a 
correct and lively accompaniment to several dance tunes, whistled 
by a party present. The head of the instrument was held by 
Horatio's muffled hand; but the strings were struck in the usual 
place, directly over the hole in the body of the instrument. I could 
plainly distinguish that as the point of greatest vibration, and also 
see flashes of electrical light on the strings. 

I saw an iron or' steel ring fall from Horatio's arm in the broad 
light. His arms were bound tightly behind his back. The ring 
was most assuredly on his arm, or else a dozen witnesses didn't know 
what they saw. A sudden shudder came through him, but no per- 
ceptible motion of his hands or arms, and the ring fell upon the 
floor, and rolled some distance away. These are a few of the essen- 
tial points I fully and distinctly remember. 

Truly yours, S. W. Lincoln. 

One of the sketches upon the opposite page represents 



HON TO PLAYS THE ORGAN. 373 

Mme. de Blavatsky playing the parlor-organ, with Honto 
as a spectator at very close quarters. 

Among the latest and most startling phases of the mani- 
festations, is the actual playing upon a parlor organ by 
the materialized spirit-girl Honto, herself. The first 
instance of the kind occurred on the evening of October 
27th. Mr. Ralph, of Utica, Mr. Pritchard, of Albany, 
and old Mrs. Cleveland, were all sitting on the platform, 
that evening, but were requested to take their seats among 
the audience, and the benches were ordered pushed a 
little farther back than usual. Honto then reappeared 
(she had been out before doing some of her usual tricks), 
examined the instrument with attention, and, with one 
foot working the pedal, played a few notes. She then 
retired to the cabinet, reappeared, and, taking a chair that 
Mr. Ralph placed for her, sat down and played a wild, 
disconnected melody as an accompaniment to her voice. 

This being her first attempt at singing, the effect was 
weird in the extreme. Her notes were harsh, wailing, 
and discordant, and it was almost enough to freeze one's 
blood to hear it. She repeated this performance four 
times that evening, and it has been a feature of each 
night's seance up to the present time. On the evening 
of the 21st instant, I saw her dance, play the organ, smoke 
a cigar, make a lot of shawls and tissues, dance a jig with 
Horatio, take a bracelet from a lady visitor as a present, 
and heard her sing. Surely, enough for one spirit to do 
at one performance ; a leading woman in a variety show 
could hardly be asked for more ! 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

PSEUDO-INVESTIGATORS. 

THE first time I attended a dark-circle at the Eddys' 
I contracted a feeling of real affection for the little 
child spirit (real or imaginary) known as " May- 
flower." Her music was so sweet and full of expression, 
her poetical attempts evinced so tender a regard for the 
beautiful in nature, her conversation was so child-like 
and innocent, she seemed actuated by so strong a senti- 
ment of charity and broad compassion for all who came, 
that I could not help loving her — or, at least, the ideal 
child whom I pictured to myself as standing in our 
presence in the darkened chamber. 

I think that a love of children and all their ways is 
one of the strongest traits of my disposition, and it may 
be well that in this matter of Mayflower's identity I 
allowed myself to become the willing dupe of my imagin- 
ation. Possibly there is no such creature as she, and her 
voice, her speech, and her sentiments are only parts of a 
clever imposture. I have never seen her, nor felt more 
than her hand (or a hand of the size that I should 
suppose such a child as she might have), and I have no 
proof to cite in support of her individual existence, 
beyond the certificate of the two little girls, already 



HOW IS IT DONE? 375 

published. I have no conclusive evidence to offer a 
scientific investigator, that she ever spoke a word, or drew 
a breath, or took a step ; and if my reason could be 
satisfied upon certain points, I would be ready to admit 
that every feature of these dark-circles may be a trick. 

Before doing so, however, I should demand to know 
how one man, even with both hands untied, and free to 
move about, could play upon the violin, guitar, con- 
certina, mouth-harmonicon, triangle, and flute, and ring 
several bells, all at the same moment; how he could 
imitate the whistling of the wind, the splash of waves, 
the sucking of a pump, and other sounds, simultaneously 
with the playing of music of various instruments ; how he 
could see to pick up articles in the dark, to describe 
things in people's pockets, and reach a particular mouth 
or cheek to kiss, or a particular hand to shake, for all 
these things are done in Horatio Eddy's dark-circle. 
And if all these were explained, I should still want to 
have the episode of Madame de Blavatsky's father's 
buckle accounted for. I am ready to concede that the 
medium may slip his hands out of his bonds and go 
about in his stocking feet in the dark, strumming instru- 
ments, pounding tambourines, and touching people ; this 
has been done before, and exposed before. 

Some (a Boston friend of mine included), even say that 
they have detected Horatio himself at the game. But 
that explanation does not cover our case, for it does not 
show how one man can do the work of a half dozen men, 
or accomplish such a miracle as that of the buckle 
brought from the Russian grave. Nor does it show how 
the discordant fiddle-scraping and nasal singing of the 



376 LITTLE MA YFLO WER. 

mediums, can be transformed into the fine execution and 
artistic coloring of the music of the unseen violinist, 
flutist, accordeonist, and harmonicon player of the dark- 
circles, and the rich soprano and alto voices that some- 
times issue from William's cabinet. 

Therefore, until the desired explanation is vouchsafed 
by some closer reasoner than I, I will leave Horatio to 
prowl about in the dark and play tricks if he will, and 
hold to my sweet little spirit Mayflower — to stand as an 
ideal of what my own children and other people's chil- 
dren are like, in the other and brighter world to which 
they have passed on before. 

To resume, then: On this first night, she said to me, 
that if I would get her some ribbons, she would make me 
a wreath, such as she had braided for a lady visitor, and 
which I had admired. On my way to New York, I procured 
some ribbons of three colors, in Rutland, and sent them 
up to Chittenden to the care of a Mr. Luther B. Hunt, 
of St. Albans, a friend of Horatio, who was visiting at 
the homestead. The parcel and my note, he says, he put 
in the pocket of his coat, which hung in his bedroom, 
intending to take the ribbons with him to the next dark- 
circle, and hold the little maid to the fulfillment of her 
promise to me. But the same day, William being, as he 
usually is, "under influence," said : "Mr. Hunt, if you 
will go up-stairs and look in your pocket you will find 
something." Mr. Hunt went and searched his coat, but 
found nothing, and, returning, reported his ill-luck. But 
William said that he had not looked in the right place, 
it was in the vest-pocket where the articles were. And in 
the vest-pocket, sure enough, he found two wreaths, one 



SPIRIT WREA TH-BRAIDING. 



377 



of which was for me, and the other, for another gentleman. 
The next evening there was a dark-circle, and May- 
flower, addressing Mr. Hunt, said that he had overlooked 
the note for me that she had left with the wreath. 
Another search of the vest disclosed a tiny note, written 
on a small square of thin paper, and being to the effect 
that I was her dear friend, and she thanked me for my 
kind expressions, and hoped I would keep the wreath to 
remember her by. So, the least I could do was to have 




JYREAT/t 



the artist make a sketch of her present, that all the 
readers may see what sort of braiding they do in the 
other world in the present year of grace. 

It struck me a few days afterward that, as Mayflower 
was in so complaisant a mood, she might not be unwilling 
to give me another specimen of her skill, accompanied 
with something of a test ; so, putting the wreath in my 
pocket, the next time a dark-circle was to be held, I said 
nothing of my intention to any one. After the light was 
extinguished, and the room was so dark that one could 

not see a hand held close to one's eyes, I took out my 
13 



378 THE LOST WREATH. 

wreath and quietly laid it in the lap of the lady sitting 
beside me. Presently Mayflower's voice said : " Oh ! 

Mrs. , what have you got in your lap ? It's my 

wreath ! Mr. Olcott, you want me to braid it over again 
for you ? " I said I did, in another pattern and with the 
ribbons passed through some perforated sea-shells, such 
as I had heard she had used a long time before for 
another friend of hers. She replied that she had no 
shells with her at the moment, but she would get some 
and re-braid my wreath and return it to me the next time 
we met. Although no one had known of my purpose, and 
the wreath had been discovered by Mayflower lying in 
the lap of a person who did not know what I had placed 
there in the dark, I thought it better to make assurance 
doubly sure, so I reached over, and taking the wreath 
from the lap of the lady on my left, / dropped it on the 
floor at my right, where no one but myself knew it to be, 
and no one who could not see in the dark could discover 
it to pick it up, But when a light was struck soon after, 
the wreath was go?ie. It was returned to me on the evening 
of the 26th of September, under curious circumstances. 
There was a great power manifested in the dark-circle 
that evening. The Indian dance was given with yells 
that made some of the timid ones shiver with apprehen- 
sion, and the dancers stamped on the floor until it seemed 
.as if they must go through into the dining-room below. 
Then " George Dix " whistled, and played a solo on the 
fife, and gave us " The Storm at Sea ; " and Mayflower 
elicited unbounded applause by her accordeon and har- 
monicon playing with the bell accompaniments, which 
you may be sure was listened to in profound silence. I 



A DARK-CIRCLE EXPERIENCE. 379 

have seen no such description of this spirit-music, as that 
given by Thackeray's friend, the late Robert Bell, in the 
Cornhill Magazine for August, i860 He is describing a 
dark-circle of Mr. Home's, at which an accordeon was 
played : 

"We listened with suspended breath. The air was wild and full 
of strange transitions, with a wail of pathetic sweetness running 
through it. The execution was no less remarkable for its delicacy, 
than for its power. When the notes swelled in some of the bold 
passages, the sound rolled through the room with an astounding 
reverberation, then, gently subsiding, sank into a strain of divine 
tenderness." 

Mayflower's playing is not always alike, sometimes 
•being less sweet and expressive than others ; but I have 
heard it on occasions when the above eloquent descrip- 
tion would hardly exaggerate its effect upon the audience. 

After the concert, " George Dix " requested Joe. Rugg, 
the faithful farmer of the family, to strike a light and 
bring a small stand and a glass of water. These direc- 
tions were complied with, and the water being placed upon 
the stand, the light was extinguished again, and, for a 
moment, we were in total darkness. But soon the candle 
was re-lighted, and we discovered the glass of water 
inverted upon the stand, the water within the glass, and 
nothing over the mouth to keep it in. The light was put 
out again, and when again called for, the stand was upside 
down on the floor, and the tumbler, with its contents, 
right side up, balanced upon the point of one of the legs. 

The light was extinguished for the fourth time and 
re-lighted, and then what should I see but the tumbler on 
the floor, at my feet, the water all gone, and my wreath, 
re-braided and decorated with sea-shells, inside, as dry as 
a bone ! The artist, on page 377, gives us a sketch of the 



380 THE KNOWING ONES AGAIN. 

new wreath, and in the series of four small pictures, we 
have the successive stages of this manifestation depicted. 
With characteristic irreverence, I suggested that the water 
had disappeared down the medium's throat, but George 
Dix told us that it had been dissipated into a fine mist, 
and was held suspended in the atmosphere of the room. 

I wish that some of the wiseacres who have accounted 
for the appearance of child-forms in the materializing 
circles of William Eddy, on the theory that they were 
pillows, could only have seen a few of them before show- 
ing their ignorance so painfully. I wish that my witty, 
fellow Lotos Eater, the Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt, had 
taken the trouble to visit Chittenden, before putting him- 
self on record as such a hasty generalizer upon the spirit- 
ualistic phenomena, as he does in a recently published 
letter to The Daily Graphic. Hear him talk about 
William Eddy and these baby spirits : 

" No one feels like laughter at the sight of the devoted wife 
hungering to find in the'fantastic figure, donned in dim twilight by 
some sham medium, the beloved shape of her dead husband, or in 
the agonized mother longing to recognize, in the painted knees of a 
charlatan, exhibited in the same darkness, the rosy cheeks of her 
darling, gone from her forever. We cannot laugh at these exhibitions 
of wifely or maternal love, but we should scorn and denounce the 
impostors who make a living by playing on these noblest affections 
of human nature." 

Painted knees, quotha! William Eddy's painted 
knees ! Why, can a man's knees walk detached, and 
say 6 Papa " and " Mamma," and " I am happy," and 
throw kisses to us, and courtesy, and all that sort of 
thing? Could they, even if they were painted 
" dunduckety and mud-color, edged with sky-blue 
scarlet ? " Can a man of 179 pounds, and five feet nine 




TABLE AND CLASS. 



j IGNORANCE AND PREJUDICE OF WRITERS. 383 

inches, dressed to represent a young girl with bare 
neck and arms, a weight of 120 pounds, and a height of, 
say, five feet one inch, walk up and down the stage, 
fondling his own knee as if it were a baby, and making 
it stick simulated thumbs into an imaginary mouth, 
and pass false chubby arms around his neck, and move 
them about? 

We had one dose, recently, from a pseudo-investiga- 
tor, in a puerile explanation of phenomena he never 
saw, by the application of a theory that wouldn't even 
fit the few things he did see. Let us be spared a 
repetition. If certain men of prominent social, political, 
or professional standing, are asked what they think 
about " materialization," why cannot they be honest 
enough to say they know nothing about it, and not 
put themselves up for the ridicule of those who do ? 

The discovery of apparently so gross a fraud as the 
more recent of the " Katie King " materializations, in 
Philadelphia, in the presence of the Holmes mediums, 
even if real, does not invalidate one single genuine 
phenomenon of this class. Foolish Editors, anxious to 
disbelieve the possibility of the reappearance of the 
dead in materialized form, may indulge in exhibitions 
of premature hilarity, may announce the exposure of 
"this latest and most dangerous humbug," and vote 
the spiritualistic delusion finally and effectually dis- 
posed of, but their ignorance and prejudice plead in 
their behalf for lenity of judgment. We had just such 
behavior from them in 1847, when self-sufficient wise 
men explained away the Rochester rappings upon the 
knee-cap and toe-joint theory. There is no occasion 



384 EFFECT OF INVESTIGA TIONS. 

to doubt that this recent jubilation will result in the 
same confusion of face to these expounders as did the 
other; and as fifty of the same kind have, since that time. 

The phenomena of modern spiritualism have agitated 
society for more than a quarter of a century, and the 
interest in the subject is tenfold greater to-day than 
ever before, by the confession of its bitterest opponents, 
It is not doubted by the best informed investigators, 
that the very persons whose trickery is claimed to have 
been shown up, are powerful mediums. Some day we 
will see a new principle of investigation adopted, 
and mediums will be judged as such, apart from their 
merits or demerits as individuals. Then, skeptics and 
believers, alike, will neither be, on the one hand elated, 
nor on the other depressed by the discovery that all 
mediums are more or less given to the imitation of the 
genuine phenomena which occur, under favorable 
conditions, in their presence. 

Occupying, as I do, a neutral position between the 
two classes, I am both surprised and amused to see 
how they are affected respectively, by each new revela- 
tion like the one to which I have referred above. No 
one should undertake the difficult work of investigating 
this or any other branch of knowledge, unless he is 
able to view the whole ground, note every detail 
whether favorable or unfavorable, and pursue his labors 
with the " passionless calm of science." 

The , above paragraphs had hardly been written, 
when the post brought me a letter from a respected 
and perfectly trustworthy correspondent which serves 
as a commentary upon my remarks concerning the 



THE HOLMES PHENOMENA. 385 

probable mediumship of the Holmes'. Says the writer: 

" I have seen, as yet, no satisfactory explanation of the phenomena 
which I witnessed (at the Holmes seances, last summer. H. S. O.) 
and 'till I do, I shall not, simply because I cannot, believe them to 
have been trickery. Why do they not tell us who the John King 
was, whom we saw standing by Katie's side, while the mediums sat with 
Mr. Owen and myself, holding our hands. The levitation of the form 
of " Katie," which I saw, was not simulated by getting upon a 
" black stool." I saw distinctly the lower limbs, and white, bare 
feet, moving in the air, as if the form were partially reclining. Nor 
do I in the least believe that the apparent dissolving of the form 
was produced by "black cloths." I saw too much that is not 
yet accounted for, to make me yield up my confidence in its 
genuineness." 

At this present, the Holmeses are protesting their 
veritable mediumship. It is a pity that some unbiased 
person could not investigate the case under proper test 
conditions. It seems the more necessary, since in 
addition to all other sources of confusion, cards of a 
very contradictory nature, as to the reality of the 
Holmes phenomena, from Dr. H. T. Child, of Philadel- 
phia, and Gen. F. J. Lippitt, of Boston, have j ust appeared 
in the Banner of Light. The latter gentleman is the 
author of an article in the December Galaxy entitled 
" Was it Katie King ? " in which he describes a number 
of phenomena which appear impossible of simulation. 
Among these may be mentioned the fact that, after the 
face of the supposed materialized Katie King had been 
exposed rather longer than usual, the eyes began to 
sag, and appear as if melting ; but upon the spirit's 
withdrawing into the cabinet for a minute or so, she 
would reappear smiling, and with her features per- 
fectly natural again. 

Because a man has seen some tables turn, or heard a 



386 JOHN BROUGHAM'S VIEWS. 

few raps, or caught Foster, or Home, or the Davenports, 
or even one of the Eddys, sometimes playing tricks when 
.conditions were unfavorable for genuine manifestations 
of the occult force, why should he rush pell-mell into the 
ditch of sweeping conjecture, and besmear such reputa- 
tion as he may have for impartiality, acumen, and 
thoroughness ? Fifty or fifty thousand cases of medium- 
istic trickery do not invalidate a solitary genuine fact. 

Dear old John Brougham has turned the hose of his 
inspired wrath upon the fire of investigation that reddens 
the whole intellectual horizon, and he hopes to put it out 
by declaring that : " As for the last new, childishly 
ridiculous phase of the prevailing insanity, ' materializa- 
tion,' it is so gross and manifest a cheat, that one's 
common sense revolts at the villainous compound of 
impudence and profanity;" to discuss it seriously would 
be a waste of words ! " I see the dear old fellow now, at 
whist in the Lotos Club, sipping his brandy and soda, 
and uttering, oj-e rotundo, this grandiloquent diatribe ! 
But it will not avail. People of pluck and intelligence 
are not to be diverted from their hunt after the truth, by 
either ridicule or invective. 

This is the time of a death-struggle between Religion 
and Materialism. The gladiators are fighting for all they 
hold dear in the way of opinion ; they waste no words, 
but grip each other, and look into each other's eyes, 
each watching and waiting for the chance to hurl the 
other into the deep abyss of oblivion. It is too late to 
try to stop this issue ; it is here ; we are in its midst ; and 
that is why people will hear all that can be said of these 
Eddy " materializations," and r* r all the minor phases of 



THE RETURNED DARLING. 389 

this wonderful manifestation from the other world to this. 

Now, if either of my esteemed friends, previously 
mentioned, had been at Chittenden on the evening of 
October 1st, what would he have seen? Through the 
dim twilight of the circle-room he would have seen upon 
the platform the figure of a woman with a child in her 
arms. He would have seen this woman in white, step 
forward to the railing, and stand there, stroking the 
baby's head, looking towards a lady in the audience, and 
waiting to be addressed. He would have seen the baby 
move its head as a living child does, and the woman pat 
it) and apparently smooth its soft hair as a mortal woman 
would a mortal child's, to keep it quiet. He would have 
seen a group so real that all preconceptions about painted 
knees or painted anything else would have left his mind 
at once, and he would have sat there, as we did, wonder- 
ing whence these forms had come and how long they 
would tarry. 

And then, as the lady spectator caught the resemblance 
of the figure to her dead sister, he would have heard a 
wail break from that mother's heart, and her imploring 
cry to be allowed to go up and embrace the darling whom 
she had last seen in its coffin, and had despaired of ever 
seeing again. If his eyes were not by this time moistened 
with the tears of human sympathy, as John Brougham's 
certainly would have been, he would then have seen this 
spirit-woman on the platform kiss the babe in her arms 
and fondle it, and hold it out over the railing towards its 
mother, to give assurance that it was in good hands, and 
rejoice her heart with at least the sight of her child, if 
she might not take it to her bosom and cover it with 
"3* 



390 VALUE OF ONE SATISFACTORY TEST. 

kisses. Heavens ! could a man of refined feeling witness 
such a scene as this, not an uncommon one at the Eddys', 
and not rejoice with the mother over the finding of the 
lost one, and grieve with her when, in another moment, it 
passed away from her sight into that world of shadows 
that lies as a borderland between us and eternity ? 

Such value as these observations of mine at Chitten- 
den may have, is largely due to the fact that they are 
corroborative of the experiments of Mr. Crookes, 
under strictly test conditions. While his results do 
not strengthen mine, since the circumstances surround- 
ing us both were entirely different, and inferior in my 
case to his, yet mine do his ; for I have, in all human 
probability, witnessed three or four hundred appear- 
ances of spirit-forms, similar to his " Katie King," in 
the solidity of their bodies, their physical movements, 
the manner of their appearance and disappearance, and 
their use of speech and display of mental action. If in 
any one instance I could have seen Honto disappear 
under test conditions, or, when she was outside the 
cabinet, have been allowed to see William Eddy inside; 
or if, after lining the cabinet sides, ceiling, and floor, 
with some impenetrable fabric, and shutting William 
in in such a way that he could not possibly have walked 
out without my knowing it, spirits had presented them- 
selves to my view, then the whole of the other three 
hundred and odd apparitions would have counted on 
the credit side of my balance sheet, with the Eddy 
mediums. 

In my own mind, I am satisfied that no fraud was 
perpetrated by William, but that is not conviction 



A VIE IV FROM THE EDDYS' STAND-POINT. 391 

based upon the firm rock of mathematical demonstra- 
tion. It is a sentiment, not an axiom. And yet, I do 
not know that I can blame these boys for acting as they 
did towards me. I must not judge them by an arbi- 
trary standard, such as I would apply to my own case. 
I can put myself in the place of the Eddy family, and 
see that if a stranger whose habits, thoughts, and ways 
were utterly unlike and antipodal to mine, were to 
come, unasked, and plant himself as a sort of sentinel 
to watch my every movement, study my very thoughts, 
scrutinize my slightest action, and force me to see him 
on the alert, by day and night, for a long succession of 
weeks, I should feel like putting him out of the win- 
dow, if he would not use the door the carpenter made. 
I don't think that the plea that it was all for the good 
of the public, and in the interest of science, would make 
it any pleasanter to reflect that he regarded me as a 
liar and cheat, until I had proved to his satisfaction 
that I was not. This, if I were ever so honest ; while, 
if I were only a little and semi-occasionally disposed 
to help things along when they lagged, or if the person 
were bent upon digging into the roots of things, to 
discover principles and laws of which I knew little and 
cared less, I should wish him to remove, with bag and 
baggage, and not vex me or my spirit-band with isms 
and ologies, when we were only bent on producing 
certain physical phenomena for the consolation of the 
average Spiritualist. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SHAKERS AS SPIRITUALISTS. 

THERE appeared in the New York Daily Graphic, 
of date November 24th, 1874, a lively and inter- 
esting report of an interview between one of the 
Editors and Frederick W. Evans, one of the chief elders 
of the Society of Shakers, at which time strange assertions 
were made. 

Among other things, Mr. Evans said that eleven years 
before the rappings through the mediumship of the Fox 
girls, similar and much more striking phenomena had run 
their course throughout the peaceful settlements of this 
devoted people. The children were first seized with 
trances, or clairvoyant sleeps, in which they would answer 
questions correctly, and display the power of seeing 
objects and persons without the use of the corporeal eye. 

The affair got bruited about among the brethren and 

sisters, and the spirits first manifesting themselves in the 

Lebanon settlement, passed on to Watervliet, and so, in 

turn, to all the sixty communities of the Order. The 

Shakers took the communications at first, much a's the 

world's people do now ; believing the stories told by the 

392 



THREE PHASES OF SPIRITUALISM. 



393 



invisible beings, and keeping a record, which was after- 
wards published in sundry books, the titles of two of 
which were " Holy Wisdom" and the "Sacred Roll." 

Mr. Evans claims to have first defined (in i860,) 
Spiritualism as a science and not a religion. He says 
that it should be studied in the same manner as Agricul- 
ture, Chemistry, or any other of the physical sciences. 
He declared that it ran through three phases in his 
Society, and the report continues thus : 

"What are those? " 

" The first is the ' test phase.' In this, the seeker is principally 
interested in ascertaining the reality of the communications and 
their genuineness. We wish to test the mediums, and inquire 
whether the manifestations are really what they pretend to be." 

" What is the second phase ? " 

" The second phase is the 'judgment phase.' In this, social rela- 
tions are established between those in and those out of the flesh. 
Attachments were formed between the spirit-world and the mediums, 
and the attachments began to take the form of criticisms. The 
spirits instructed and reproved. The second phase was a phase of 
judgment on the individual and on society. During the whole of 
this phase, we were forming a relation with the higher spirits, and 
they were instructing and criticising us. Then it was that Spiritual- 
ism began to be a ministration of religion. That was what caused 
our people to interblend Religion and Spiritualism. We attached an 
infallibility to the manifestations, similar to the infallibility which 
the Christian world attaches to the Scriptures. The second phase 
was a phase of judgment, for purging out everything that was wrong 
in the character of the individual — correcting faults, reproving error, 
and amending the life and disposition." 

" What do you call the ' third phase?' " 

" The ' missionary phase.' When the second phase was finished, 
and the revelations had been received from the highest spirits, then 
we preached the truth to the lower spirits, We were missionaries to 
the other world. Religion was ministered to us by the higher circles 
of spirits, and we ministered to those who were below us. Then it 
was that the work of judgment took effect among those spirits, and 
they would confess their faults and the sins of their lives, just as 
though they were in this life. I have heard many spirits confess 
their sins." 



394 MANIFESTA TIONS AMONG THE SHAKERS. 

"You are a medium, then ?" 

"Yea. All the Shakers are mediums. There is scarcely an excep- 
tion. These confessions are made to the mediums, and then they 
would repeat it aloud. The spirits would obsess an individual, and 
then the confessions would be made." 

" Do you have any of these manifestations now?" 

" Yea. We can have as much of them as we like. The spirits of 
the prophets are subject to the prophets." 

" What kind of confessions were made by the spirits? " 

" Some of the most interesting confessions were made by members 
of a tribe of Indians. These came and confessed their sins to us, 
and said they would join our order. Then we would appoint them 
elders and elderesses, and then they would go off to their tribe and 
preach to them, and the spirits of the tribe would confess to them 
and they would become Shakers. When they had done this they 
would come again to us, just the same as if they were in the body. 
For instance, one or two elders might be in the room below, and 
there would be a knock at the door, and the Indians would ask 
whether they might come in. Permission being given, a whole tribe 
of Indian spirits would troop into the house, and in a few minutes 
you would hear ' whoop ' here and ' whoop ' there, all over the 
house." 

" But nobody in the rooms above had known that the elders had 
admitted the Indian spirits ? " 

" Nay. We only knew it who heard them ask permission to 
enter. But in a few minutes after permission was given, everybody 
in the house would be obsessed. You would hear the men and 
women talking as if they were Indians. No theatricals that ever 
you saw on earth were equal to it. They would act out what they 
were simulating. They would sing new songs entirely unknown to 
our people, and sometimes they would sing in a foreign language 
that none of us knew. The mediums would converse together as if 
they were Indians, and not as themselves." 

" You never let the outside world know what was going on ?" 

" Nay indeed. What took place among us was so wonderful that 
it seemed incredible. And if we had published it to the world, we 
should all have been sent to Bedlam." 

" Don't you think that modern Spiritualism is much the same thing 
as the visions of monks and nuns in the Middle Ages? " 

" Certainly. That is the proper explanation of them through all 
the ages. The visions of St. Theresa were merely spiritualistic 
visions, just such as we have frequently had vouchsafed to the mem- 
bers of our society." 

" And necromancy and magic belong to the same category ? " 



/' 



MR. EVANS' FIRM BELIEF. 395 

"Yea. That is, when Spiritualism is used for selfish ends, and 
probably mixed with fraud and pretence, like doctor-craft. If you 
editors of papers were to turn your criticism upon doctor-craft, with 
its abominable frauds and shams, and pretences, and poisonous drugs, 
you would be doing a real service to mankind." 

" Well, reverting to your spiritual experiences — how is it that you 
never published them to the world ? " 

" We have always known that we should have a work to do in 
relation to Spiritualism, but we did not know when that work would 
begin. The manifestations lasted seven years, then they ceased. 
The spirits told us when they left us, that in a very short time they 
would give manifestations everywhere, from the palace to the hamlet, 
all over the world. We knew that we should have to work at the 
appointed time, but we knew also, that Providence would point out 
to us the way and the method in which we should work. It was 
"four years, before we had any evidence of the truth of what the 
spirits had told us. Many of us had begun to doubt ; we thought 
that they had deceived us. But when the Rochester manifestations 
began, then all knew that they had told us the truth. So I and 
another member of the society went off to Rochester to question 
the spirits. I asked them if this was the work for which we had so 
long been waiting. They told us yes ! Immediately that we 
entered the room, the rappings were made on the table and all 
around us in the most remarkable manner. The spirits manifested 
great joy at our arrival. I saw that the room was full of spirits. 
Margaret and Katherine Fox left everybody to come and assist us in 
our conversations with the spirits. We sat down and held long con- 
versations with them. We asked them if the work for which we had 
been so long waiting had really commenced. They said ' Yes, it 
had.' I then asked them if they would show themselves in mate- 
rializations. I asked them if they would act in the same way upon 
material elements, as they had acted upon spiritual elements. They 
said, 'Yes.' 

" Then you consider that the recent materializations are genuine ?" 

"Yea, certainly. I visited the Eddys at their homestead, and I 
am certain their manifestations are genuine. I was up there about 
three weeks ago. Colonel Olcott is doing a good work there, and I 
will say that he is correct so far as I was a witness of what 
occurred." 

" How many Shakers visited the Eddys?" 

" Myself and John Greaves." 

" How long were you there? " 

" Three nights." 

" How many different apparitions did you see?" 



396 THE CASE OF HENRY PHELPS. 

" Between twenty and thirty men and women." 

" Did you or Mr Greaves see any spirits of relatives? " 

"We did not; nor did we care about seeing any. We were 
perfectly satisfied with the manifestations that we saw. There was 
no possibility of fraud. As soon as the manifestations began, 
the spirits called us to the first benches. They knew us imme- 
diate!)'. The materializations were very pretty. No Shaker spirit 
came forward." 

" Did you speak to the spirits yourself? ,r 

" Yea, I did ; and got answers from them. I saw no person 
that I knew at all. I think they were perfectly genuine materiali- 
zations. Even if we had dectected actual fraud on the part of the 
Eddys, I should still be convinced that the materializations were 
genuine. It is not at all uncommon for the best mediums to 
practise fraud. I detected a downright fraud on the part of that 
boy Henry Phelps." 

"Ha! Where did those manifestations occur? I have heard 
something of them." 

"At Stratford, Ct., about twenty-five years ago. As soon as I 
heard of the manifestations I went down and visited his father. 
Stratford was a quiet little place that was composed of retired 
priests and deacons. Dr. Phelps was a retired D. D. His son 
became a medium, and the manifestations broke out right in 
the middle of this quiet village. His father told me that it 
would have been better for him if his house had been burned down, 
than that these things should have occurred. The spirits were so 
eager after this boy that they tore his clothes off his back, and if 
he went into any house in that village, they pelted it with stones 
and broke all the windows. The father said, that as soon as he 
saw me drive up, he was impressed that help was come. I took 
the boy with me to Lebanon, The manifestation's by spirits 
through his mediumship were wonderful. Yet one evening when 
I was out driving with. him, he began making raps in the wagon 
with his heels. He wanted me to believe that they were spirits. 
I said, ' Henry, let this be the last time that you attempt such 
tricks as that with me ' " 

" What has become of him now ? " 

" I really do not know. I have spoken about Spiritualism in 
England. I spoke before a great crowd of the aristocracy, in St. 
George's Hall. I told them that Spiritualism ought to be one of 
the elements of a civil government ; that it would answer the 
purposes of a police in the suppression of evil, and of an army and 
navy in the protection of the nation. I said they ought to at 
once get rid of their army and navy and proclaim England a 



SPIRITUALISM AMONG THE MORMONS. 397 

non-resistant power, and then fall back on Spiritualism as a means 
of national defence. See what a power I had over them then." 

" What is your general opinion of these multiplied manifesta- 
tions that we hear of in these days? " 

"Itis the descent of Spiritualism from the Shakers to the world. 
We had the manifestations first ; but we kept quiet about it, and 
did not let the world know anything about it. But the spirits 
promised us that there should come a time of manifold spiritual 
revelations to the world, and here they are. It is infallible evi- 
dence that the world cannot gainsay. Why even the Mormons 
have had spiritual revelations." 

" You do not mean to convey the idea that the spiritual mani- 
festations confirm the truth of Mormonism ? " 

" Yea, to a certain extent." 

"Why, I should have thought Mormonism the very antipodes of 
your belief. ' 

" Mormcmism is much better than your New York Christianity." 

Frederick W. Evans has filled too large a place in the 
public view during the past thirty years, to require that I 
should say more concerning him, in this connection, 
except, that he is a man of decided intellectual power, a 
skilled controversialist, an enthusiastic propagandist, 
devoted to his Society, and possessed of excellent prac- 
tical administrative powers. Seeing such a remarkable 
report as the above, I thought it would be well to get his 
answers to certain questions touching the Eddys, and 
spiritualistic matters in general, and therefore addressed 
him a letter, his reply to which, is as follows : 

Mt. Lebanon, December 1st, 1874. 
H. S. Olcott — Respected Friend : 

Your queries of the 26th ult., are at hand. 

" 1st. — Could you, as a medium, see the band of spirits controlling 
the Eddy manifestations ; who were they, and of what moral and 
intellectual degree of development?" 

Let me answer evasively. I think the immediate materializing 
spirits-are influenced — controlled — by other spirits, in and out of the 
body. They who plan the labor on a farm, do not always perform 
the labor. When mediums and spirits are interblended — mixed up 



398 WHY INDIAN SPIRITS APPEAR. 

— with the physical elements ; and are not too intellectual or spiritual- 
minded, materialization and de-materialization are most possible. 

" 2d. — Did you see the evidences of a fraudulent intent and fraud- 
ulent practices, in either brother ? If so, which, and to what extent ?" 

I did not see the least sign of fraud, nor did I feel any during my 
sojourn. There was no temptation to fraud, that I could discover. 

" 3d. — Most mediums, in America, seem to be attended by Indian 
" Guides," Why so? Because they are now in your initial stage of 
development of 1S40?" 

Because America is the home of the Indian. While in the body, 
they lived much in the lower spirit world. When out of the body, 
they go not far from the physical world and their old haunts. They 
are of, and in the country — part and parcel of the earth, and are 
attracted and attached to the matter of which earthly human beings 
are compounded. Also, the Indians have a sense of having been 
forced from their homes and hunting grounds on earth. They have 
a feeling of want, like children whose earth-life was prematurely 
cut off. Injustice has been done. Their earth-life is not yet com- 
pleted. They seek compensation — may seek revenge on the pale- 
faces. This is under a law referred to, Rev. vi., 9, " I saw, under 
thy altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and 
for the testimony that they held. And they cried with a loud voice, 
saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our 
blood on them that dwell upon the earth ? " 

When Shakers labor with such restless souls, they turn the edge 
of their feelings from persons, to the principle which produced the 
wrong. We would make a poor slave ashamed of his, or herself, by 
showing that as did the slave-holder, so would do the slave, with the 
same powers. 

The rich and poor, the victor and vanquished, the Indian and 
white, are, in the sight of God, all one, until faith and conscience 
make a difference. Let civil governments understand that they do 
not diminish the number of criminals by sending them to prisons to 
instruct criminals younger than themselves ; nor do they get rid of 
them by capital punishment. 

" 4th. — Do you know whether materialized spirits intend to 
address the public themselves from the rostrum, before this epoch 
passes away ? And when will it pass away ? " 

In an article published in the old Spiritual Telegraph, I foretold 
that manifestations would yet be made to whole villages, towns and 
cities. And in a book entitled " Tests of Divine Revelation," re- 
published in London, 1871, I predicted that spirits would yet obsess 
persons, and that the unspiritual Protestant sects would not be able 
to exorcise them. 



SEVERAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 399 

In Stratford, Ct., Dr. Phelps gave us the following statement : 
" The ministers and deacons called a meeting for the purpose of 
exorcising the spirits from my boy and girl. When assembled in a 
room, each with a Bible in his lap, as a talisman, and while praying, 
the Bibles were thrown by the spirits at the heads of the priests and 
deacons, until they broke up the meeting. 

" 5th. — I know a noble family in Europe, who assert that for more 
than two centuries they have been caused the direst calamities, by a 
wicked ancestor's spirit, who leads them to murder, arson, pillage, 
incest, &c. Can such a fiend be reached by any influence within 
the control of your society, and the cause removed ? " 

A society of zealous, primitive Methodists, who could proselyte 
the members of the family on earth, would make it easy for us to 
lead that wicked spirit to confession and repentance. 

" 6th. — Do the spirits, with you, feel interest enough in my work, 
to admit me to one or more private sittings with you, so that I may 
be furnished with important facts for the book I am about to pub- 
lish ? If so, when, etc. ? " 

You are welcome to visit us at any time for the why and where- 
fore of our faith in spirits. If you come seeking a sign, I cannot 
assure you that any sign, save that of a cross against Generation, will 
be given. Nor yet do I know that a sign will not be given. The 
times are, as the English would say, big with coming events. If you 
look over my St. George's Hall lecture you will get some idea how 
I feel. 

The Graphic Editorial breathes the right spirit. Robert Dale Owen 
and I belonged to the same school — the Hall of Science — in New 
York, in 1830. We were both materialists. I related to him the 
spirit-manifestations which converted me to Shakerism. I corre- 
sponded with Robert Owen, his father, and he visited Mt. Lebanon. 
Should you come, as per invitation, you may see the whole corre- 
spondence. 

The Graphic Intemieio was well done, with some mistakes. 
" Shakers are all mediums" hardly conveys a right idea. " Every- 
body in the house was obsessed," should be many, instead of all. " / 
and another member went to Rochester" — it was New York, where 
the Fox girls were holding seances. 

Your statement that the spirits at Chittenden have not fed you 
philosophy and wisdom, is somewhat remarkable. It goes to con- 
firm our position, that, at present, it takes all the concentrated power 
of the spirits to effect materialization ; because of general unbelief, 
induced by general self-indulgence. Use should be the law of action 
for all human beings. 

If you go to those spirits, seeking, with all your heart to see some 



400 MORMONS AND CHRISTIANS COMPARED. 

dearly loved lost one, with whom you had been in intimate social, 
emotional relation, you will have no difficulty. But if you go, as 
evidently you have done, deeply exercised upon principles, prying 
into the source, the philosophy, the religion of the manifestations, 
the Eddys will wish the Old Harry had you — and the spirits will 
help them to send you to him. 

Spiritualism went out from this Order. I have always supposed 
it would return to this Order, and that then the manifestations, con- 
trolled by a Christ spirit, would be attended with gifts of healing, 
gifts of divine revelation, &c, and the organization of Pentacostal 
Communities, simultaneous with corresponding changes in the Civil 
Government. A new Heaven and a new Earth, 

"And when will it pass away?" — (4th question, last clause.) 
Never more. The two worlds will become like body and soul — 
"there will be no more sea," — disordered spiritual elements, — 
unclean spirits, out of which " The Beast" arose. And there will be 
time no more, for all will be Eternity. 

When I was at Eddys, the Witch of the Mountain came, in the 
beginning of the seance, and delivered a beautiful panegyric upon 
Shakers and Shakerism, without naming them ; depicting, in glow- 
ing colors, the blessedness of those who, in earth-life, conquered 
their passions, and lived in physical and spiritual innocence. 

At the close of the seance, Mayjloiver, the Little Spirit, said, 
" The Shakers, notwithstanding the reproaches cast upon them, are 
the most virtuous, self-denying, and holy people, upon the face of 
the earth. 

I consider Mormonism a revival of ancient Judaism — the God — 
Tutelar Deity, of the Jews, is probably the controlling spirit of 
Mormonism. He allowed polygamy 2,000 years ago. Why not 
now ? 

But the Mormons have abolished poverty and prostitution ; and 
from children and youth the " Social Evil." 

Is not that better than New York and co-Christianity ? And 
would it not be well for Christians (?) to stop persecuting Mormons, 
until there are no poor — no hire of harlots — and those law suits 
are settled ? F. W. Evans. 

In 1856, Mr. Evans wrote to Robert Owen, making the 
same statement regarding the outbreak of spiritualistic 
manifestations among the Shakers, in advance of their 
appearance in the outside world. During the sevenyears 
of the continuance of the phenomenon, hundreds of 



DECREES OF SPIRITUALISM. 401 

spiritual mediums were developed throughout the 
eighteen societies. Says Mr. Evans, in the letter 
referred to : 

" In truth, all the members, in a greater or less degree, were 
mediums. So that physical manifestations, visions, revelations, 
prophecies, and gifts of various kinds, of which numerous records 
are kept, and, indeed, divers operations, but all of the same spirit, 
were as common as gold in California." 

He says that these spiritual manifestations were of 
three distinct degrees. The first, being for the complete 
convincement of the junior members ; the second, for the 
work of judgment, the judging and purifying of the whole 
people by spiritual agency; and the third, for the minis- 
tration of millennial truths, to various nations, kindreds, 
tribes and people, in the spirit-world, who were hunger- 
ing and thirsting after righteousness. And that spiritual- 
ism in its outward progress will go through the same 
three degrees in the world at large, being only yet in its 
first degree in the United States. Spiritual manifesta- 
tions, he maintained, were God's answer to the hearts' 
cry of earnest men and women, seeking facts, not words, 
in attestation of the "Word of Life." (See Howitt's 
" History of the Supernatural." Ed. 1863, London. Vol. 
II, p, 194.) 

His affirmation of the genuineness of the Eddy mate- 
rializations, it will be seen, is unqualified and positive. 
He neither detected any fraud on the part of either of 
the brothers, by his external powers of observation, nor 
by his internal function as a seer ; in which particulars 
he goes beyond the position I should be willing, at 
present, to assume. But I must admit that, in my case, 
I am hampered by the exercise of only the ordinary 



402 TESTIMONY FAVORABLE TO THE EDDYS. 

faculties, and therefore may have contracted suspicions 
that time would prove groundless. If they were not 
mere suspicions, unsupported by what I consider adequate 
evidence, I should not hesitate a moment in stating 
what they are. If I withhold my unqualified endorse- 
ment of the entire genuineness of their verity, in the 
face of such an apparently overwhelming mass of evidence, 
it would ill become one who desires to proceed to his 
conclusions with deliberation, to throw suspicions into 
the scales, which are trembling in the effort to find a 
balance. 

The files of many of the leading secular newspapers 
furnish ample testimony in favor of the Eddy mediums, 
and very little against them. Perhaps I should qualify 
by saying, very little that is entitled to consideration. 
There are many hasty accounts of single seances, either 
by persons who went to Chittenden to find support 
for pre-conceived prejudices ; or by others, who could 
not see the forms distinctly enough in the obscurity of 
the chamber, to distinguish their physical contrasts with 
each other, and did not remain long enough to so famil- 
iarize their eyes with the light, or themselves with the 
features of the room, so that they might judge of these 
peculiarities of form, stature and bearing, as compared 
with those of William Eddy. 

Strangely enough, Mr. Evans' views of the genuineness 
of the Eddy materializations, find unqualified endorse- 
ment by a sect, communistic like his, but its very antipode 
in one of the fundamentals of belief, I mean the so-called 
" free-love " society called " The Oneida Community." A 
committee, consisting of Dr. T. R. Noyes and Mr. F. 



REPORT TO ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 403 

Wayland Smith, visited Chittenden on the 2d of Novem- 
ber, and upon their return published a report in the 
Oneida Circular, the official journal of the Community, 
which I have the permission of Mr. Smith to use in this 
Chapter. He charges me, however, to give it as the 
expression of his individual opinion concerning the Eddy 
manifestations ; adding that the Community are investi- 
gating Spiritualism through their own mediums, and in 
time will give an authoritative opinion upon the subject. 
After describing the committee's arrival at Chittenden, 
their reception by the Eddys, and the materializations at 
several successive seances, the writer says : 

"The third evening Ilonto was dressed very prettily, having a 
bright, phosphorescent diamond on her forehead, and another in her 
belt. The light from these rose and fell constantly. Her skirts 
were quite short, so that her stockings and moccasins were visible. 
She played and sang, danced, and then asked for a pipe. Horatio 
lighted his for her. She took it and smoked vigorously, so that the 
light from the burning tobacco reflected on her features, enabling me 
to see distinctly her copper-colored cheek, the bridge of her nose, 
and the white of her eye. She smoked and played at the same time, 
and was so overcome with this double intoxication of her senses that 
she remained out too long. She suddenly handed back the pipe, 
and started rapidly towards the cabinet, but just as she reached the 
curtain, she collapsed into a shapeless heap on the floor, only one 
hand being distinguishable. The curtain fell back over her, and in 
half a minute she again appeared, apparently as bright and strong as 
ever. 

" At Horatio's ' light-circle,' the tambourine rattles ; the harmonicas 
sound ; the guitar is held up in plain view and thrummed ; the bells 
are thrown about ; hands of different sizes and shapes are thrust 
through the opening between the shawls and passed over the faces 
of the persons, sometimes tweaking their beards with unpleasant 
force ; a hand minus the little finger is held up over the top of the 
curtain ; a large black chair, which has been placed near the table in 
the recess, is held out horizontally by a strong hand which grasps 
one leg ; the visible hands write on cards, names and messages for 
various guests, etc. At one time, I saw the guitar held up above the 
curtain by its extreme head, the strings being turned towards us, so 



404 RING TEST CORROBORA TED. 

that I could see their whole length, in which position it was vigor- 
ously thrummed, and yet, though there was a bright light shining on 
it, I could not see that any thing touched the strings to cause the 
sounds. All this time the three persons in front of the curtain sat 
motionless. The supposition that it was their hands which we had 
seen, and which had caused the manifestations I have described, is, 
from the nature of the circumstances, their position, etc., simply 
absurd." 

The " dark-circle " phenomena also excited the wonder 
of the Committee. Says Mr. Smith : 

" But the most wonderful thing was the ring test. The candle 
was lighted, and we saw that Horatio was securely tied, as at first. 
Then, by his direction, an iron ring six inches in diameter and of 
three-eighths inch metal was found and placed on one corner of the 
table. Elder Evans, who had that day arrived, was then invited to 
sit in Horatio's lap and see that he did not stir. A lady also 
changed her position, so as to sit in front of the Elder and hold his 
hands. Thus there could have been no collusion or trickery. The 
candle being now extinguished, the fiddle sounded for a couple of 
minutes, when the light was again called for. The match was no 
sooner struck than we saw the Elder still seated on Horatio's knees, 
Horatio still securely tied. But the iron ring was now on Horatio's 
right arm above the cord, and his coat had been taken off and lay on 
the floor beside him ! Then the medium said, ' Mr. Frost, please 
open the door for two spirits who cannot get in.' 

"Mr. Frost took the candle and went to the door. Returning 
instantly, he placed the light on the table, within two feet of the 
ring as it hung on Horatio's arm. Then, while we were all looking 
directly at it, we saw the ring drop to the floor and roll away I 
had previously marked this ring, by scratching a bright spot on the 
inside of the weld with my knife. I now picked it up, and found it 
to be the same ring. When the ring was put on, and again when it 
was taken off, Horatio Eddy, the medium, underwent a violent 
shudder. 

" I have now brushed hastily over the main facts which came under 
our observation. I am aware that Dr. Beard, and many other skep- 
tics, are exerting themselves to prove that all these phenomena are 
produced by jugglery and tricks cleverly executed by the Eddy 
brothers. But after studying the men as carefully as possible during 
the four days we lived with them, I cannot believe them dishonest. 
It would tax my credulity much more severely to believe that this is 
jugglery, than to believe that it is what they say it is, the work of 



MEDIUMS E VER Y WHERE, 405 ' 

spirits ; for to believe that it is jugglery, is to ascribe to these two 
simple farmers all and more than all the combined skill of every 
prestidigitator who has ever visited us. The most that the skeptics 
undertake to prove is, that many of these phenomena might be pro- 
duced by sleight of hand ; no one has been able to prove that any of 
them are so produced by the Eddys." 

Mr. Smith writes me that they " have found a very- 
peculiar medium in Syracuse, N. Y., who gets direct 
writing in a good light, under very satisfactory conditions," 
and sends me a printed report of the visit made to him 
by the Communists." Says Mr. S.: 

" This medium is a broker, moves in the best society, and does 
not allow his name to be mentioned in this connection. I suppose 
there are a hundred such in the country, who will come out of their 
shells by and by, when Spiritualism has become somewhat less 
unpopular with the would-be wise men of the world." 

Every investigator, of respectable social position, can 
indorse the correctness of Mr. Smith's concluding remark. 
I, myself, have met within the past fortnight in private 
families, in different cities, two lady mediums, whose 
Spiritualistic phenomena are of the most wonderful char- 
acter, equalling anything I ever read of, except the mate- 
rializations that are now attracting so much attention. 
When the ban is removed, the world will be astonished 
to discover how many mediums were long since devel- 
oped in the circles of our best society. 



14 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

SUMMING UP. 

I THINK I occupy, at the end of this series of Chap- 
ters, the only secure ground for any person worthy 
of a moment's thought as an investigator, and it is 
the one assumed by every intelligent physician in diag- 
nosing an obscure case. I have reasoned by exclusion. 
That is to say, I reject everything that happens in the 
presence of these mediums which could be accounted for 
on the hypothesis of fraud. The physician, placing him- 
self by the bedside of his patient, first carefully notices 
all the symptoms, and then proceeds with his diagnosis. 
He says to himself that the trouble assuredly is neither 
such, or such, or such a disease, nor is it included in a 
certain group of diseases ; and so, telling off malady after 
malady, he finally reaches either the precise thing he is 
looking for, or, at least, such an approximation to the 
truth as to suggest the trial of a certain class of remedies, 
until the specific is found. 

This is what the investigator of these spiritualistic 
phenomena should do. Given a certain thing done in 

his presence, he ought to attempt to explain it as: (i) a 

406 



THE CREA T CONFLICT. 407 

trick; (2) the result of some known cause — such as elec- 
tricity, odic force, or the subtle influence that one person 
has over the imaginations of others; (3) these all failing, 
then he ought to observe closely enough to learn whether 
some new, powerful, occult force is asserting itself; or (4) 
whether relations had really been established between the 
world we live in and the world we are tending to. Now 
all this is within the scope of scientific inquiry; the 
territory beyond belongs to the Church. It is for Science 
to observe the facts, deduce the law, and define the con- 
ditions ; for Religion to follow the moral causes in this 
life to their moral consequences in the next. This is the 
true middle ground upon which the two contending 
powers can compromise in the great conflict that is upon 
us, and the terrific nature of which is so clearly defined 
by Tyndall, Draper, and others. Says Professor John W. 
Draper in his most recently published paper, entitled 
"The Great Conflict": 

" Whoever has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with 
the mental condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and America, 
must have perceived that there is a great and rapidly increasing 
departure from the public religious faith, and that, while among the 
frank this divergence is not concealed, there is a far more extensive 
and far more dangerous secession, private and unacknowledged." 

" So widespread and so powerful is this secession, that it can nei- 
ther be treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot be 
extinguished by derision, by vituperation, or by force. The time is 
rapidly approaching when it will give rise to serious political 
results." 

" Ecclesiastical spirit no longer inspires the policy of the world. 
Military fervor in behalf of faith has disappeared. Its only souvenirs 
are the marble effigies of crusading knights reposing in their tombs 
in the silent crypts of churches." 

After noticing that the antagonism between Religion 
and Science commenced when Christianity began to 



408 LA WS OF CREA TION. 

attain political power, and denning the true cause of the 
same to be found in the natural expansion of the human 
intellect, through the irresistible advance of human knowl- 
edge warring against the compression arising from tradi- 
tionary faith and human interests, he says : 

" Can we exaggerate the importance of a contention in which 
every thoughtful person must take part, whether he will or not? In 
a matter so solemn as that of religion, all men, whose temporal 
interests are not involved in existing institutions, earnestly desire to 
find the truth. They seek information as to the suhjects in dispute, 
and as to the conduct of the disputants." 

What a curious law of creation ; how beneficent and 
wise, that every human want seems to be provided for at 
the proper time ! Let any one thing necessary for our 
existence, comfort, or progression fail, and some substi- 
tute is found. When the forests in Europe were in dan- 
ger of extinction, coal was discovered ; when the whale 
fishery failed, mineral oil was struck in Pennsylvania ; 
when the discovery of the iron ores of that region offered 
us a new source of wealth, the uses of anthracite coal 
were first learned by the accident of a careless laborer ; 
when the progress of the world demanded the overthrow 
of ecclesiastical imperialism, the printing-press came to 
enlighten mankind. That not only dispersed secular 
knowledge broadcast, but proved the most powerful ally 
of the Church itself, in widening the boundaries of true 
Religion. So, also, when the increase of population 
called for ampler methods of communication by sea and 
land, steam offered itself as the great desideratum ; and, 
in the progressive development of the same need, the 
electric telegraph came to unite all the people of the 
earth together in a constant, heaven-descended tie. 

In view of all this, who dares say that, at the very 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 409 

instant of this " great conflict " between Science and 
Religion, when the latter is looking about for better 
weapons to meet the onslaught of her traditional foe, 
this spiritualistic manifestation has not been made ? If 
there is anything not beneath contempt in the phenomena, 
they are calculated to arrest the attention of both antag- 
onists — of the Materialists, because, if they are real, their 
position is untenable ; of the Religionists, because, in 
their verity they would find an impenetrable armor of 
defence and an invincible sword of offence against the 
opponents of Immortality. 
v Dr. Draper says : 

" The attention of many truth-seeking persons has been so exclu- 
sively given to the details of sectarian dissensions that the long 
strife, to the history of which these pages are devoted, is popularry 
but little known." 

And so we may say that the strife between Science on 
the one side, and Religion on the other, has been so 
bitter, deadly, and engrossing, that neither side has had 
either the time or disposition to notice the rise and secret 
development of modern Spiritualism, which, after twenty- 
seven years, has now reached a point where it no longer 
entreats but commands general attention. 

The recognition of this fact is what first prompted me 
to attempt the investigation of the alleged spirit " mate- 
rializations " of the Eddy mediums, and the reader will 
bear me out in the statement, that all my efforts have 
been to interest American scientists in the phenomena 
to such an extent that they would commence real investi- 
gations, in comparison to which these of mine are but 
child's play. 

I am happy to say that I have succeeded. I have the 



410 INTEREST IN SPIRITUALISM. 

best of reasons to know that not only one but a dozen 
professors in different colleges read all my articles, dis- 
cuss the facts, and are beginning to feel a call to the 
work. And I am also glad to know that many clergymen 
— so many that I would not like to state the number — 
are, for the first time in their lives, opening their eyes to 
the fact that " this materialization business must be looked 
into." Within a single day of twenty-four hours, I have 
received requests from three orthodox ministers in charge 
of prosperous congregations, that I would try to have 
them admitted to the Eddy circles, and one other was at 
Chittenden a short time ago, and voluntarily wrote me a 
certificate of what he had seen. 

In a certain place near New York, I know of a congre- 
gation of eight hundred persons, of whom, according to 
the pastor's statement, three hundred are reading about 
Spiritualism, and some are beginning to hold circles in 
their private houses. The ministers of two of the churches 
in Rutland, united with a large number of their most 
influential fellow-townsmen in giving me an invitation to 
describe, in a public lecture, the things I saw at the Eddy 
homestead. 

As a final and most conclusive proof of the general 

interest, I need only point to the universal discussion of 

the subject by the secular newspapers. Says the Rutland 

(Vt.) Globe : 

" Colonel Henry S. Olcott, the commissioner of The Daily Graphic 
to investigate and report upon the Eddy "manifestations," has stirred 
up a breeze throughout the country. Before his first letter from 
Rutland appeared, the subject of Spiritualism had not been even 
mentioned in the secular papers since the appearance of Mr. Crookes' 
articles and Mr. Alfred Wallace's pamphlet in England set Europe 
agog. Now the New York dailies discuss the subject editorially — 



L 



NARRA FIVE OF FA CTS. 4 1 1 

nearly all have sent reporters to Chittenden, and their example has 
been imitated by the journals of Chicago, Hartford, Rochester, 
Albany, and many other cities. Whatever may be the truth about 
the Eddy affair, there can be no question that the public mind is 
very much excited upon the question whether the spirits of the dead 
return to us or not." 

This from a Rutland paper which has all along reflected 
the bitter and disdainful spirit of the community in which 
it is published, is something remarkable. 

Now these are results — positive, tangible results ; and 

I may well turn to both scientists and churchmen and 

quote Dr. Draper's language, with the change of a single 

word, thus : 

"So widespread and so powerful is this (interest), that it can 
neither be treated with contempt nor with punishment. It cannot 
be extinguished by derision, by vituperation, or by force." 

It is the bare narration of facts that has accomplished 
so much. I have confined myself almost exclusively to 
such phenomena as have been witnessed by myself or 
others. I have not attempted to inculcate any of the 
doctrines of the Spiritualists, as I find them in the works 
of Mr. Owen, Mr. Sargent, Mr. Peebles, or other writers. 
Nor have I attempted to elicit from the talking spirits of 
the Eddy band their views upon the laws of their own 
existence and communication with us. True, it would 
have been a waste of time to have made such an attempt, 
for the Eddy circle is about the most unpromising of 
places for that sort of thing. One goes there to see phe- 
nomena, not to discuss philosophies. It was sufficient 
for me if I could see one spirit materialized under such 
conditions as precluded the possibility of self-deception. 
That fact was enough to set the world to thinking, for it 
opened up a boundless realm for scientific discovery and 



412 RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION. 

philosophical and religious inquiry. Let us see how far 
we have gotten on our way towards the truth. 

In the first place, it has been proven that, after making 
every allowance for fraud on the part of the mediums — 
for Horatio's removing his hand from his neighbor's bare 
arm in the light-circle, for his untying and rebinding 
himself in the dark-circle, and for William's personating 
every alleged materialized spirit that approximates to his 
own height and bulk — we have a large balance of marvels 
to account for. 

We have the writing of certain names that the medium 
had no means of knowing; the exhibition of detached 
hands of various sizes and colors, some deformed by acci- 
dental pre-mortem causes ; we have the simultaneous 
playing of musical compositions by such a number of 
instruments that one or even two men could not have 
done it ; we have the playing of Georgian and Circassian 
and Italian music by invisible performers, in response to 
requests made in languages that neither the medium nor 
any other person in the room, except the asker, under- 
stood; we have the pulling of a spring-balance by 
detached hands unlike the medium's, one with a finger 
amputated, and the other with tattoo marks upon the 
wrist, which, in each case, would prove that the medium 
had nothing to do with the pulling ; we have had the 
playing upon an instrument and the display of hands, 
beyond the reach of the medium, and when his position 
and movements were all under easy scrutiny ; we have 
had the passage of a solid iron ring upon the arm of the 
medium, and its transfer to my own, with both of the 
medium's hands held by mine, and also the dropping 



RESUL TS CONTINUED. 4 1 3 

of the same solid ring from the medium's arm to the 
floor, in the light, with a lamp standing within two feet 
of the medium. 

We have had the execution of airs upon various 
musical instruments in concert, in a style so utterly 
unlike the best efforts of the medium as to preclude 
the idea that he could have been the performer upon 
either one of them; we have had, finally, the appear- 
ance of a multitude of figures emerging from a closet, 
where, in the nature of things, it was impossible that 
any mortal person except one man could have been, 
dressed in a great variety of costumes, and differing in 
size, apparent weight, manner, sex, age, and complexion 
from that person — to make no account of those whom 
he might have personated if he had been supplied with 
the appliances of the actor's art. 

We have, moreover, and especially, seen some of 
these figures dressed in Oriental costumes and speak- 
ing Oriental languages, besides others who conversed 
audibly in the modern tongues of Europe. Of the 
appearance of children and even little babes in arms; 
of the appearance of two of the former at one and the 
same time ; of the speaking of words and sentences by 
various children I have heretofore given such circum- 
stantial accounts, and the substantiation of my state- 
ments is so easy, that I cite the facts as among the most 
wonderful of the proofs accumulated during my pro- 
tracted investigation. 

It will not escape the notice of the unprejudiced and 

intelligent reader that in the above enumeration I have 

not included one of the things reported by me which 
14* 



4 1 4 SPIRIT- WRITINGS. 

admits of doubt. I have omitted a whole array of so- 
called "manifestations" which might be imitated by an 
unprincipled and clever medium. 

I omit some things that have been described in this 
series of Chapters, such as the writing of names in 
characters which are suspiciously like Horatio Eddy's 
manuscript ; the drawing of objects in his light-circle 
and bed-room ; the bell test ; the weighing of Honto, 
which, nevertheless, I regard as a genuine test ; the 
making of my two ribbon wreaths; the bringing of 
material substances into the dark-circle, and a great 
many more matters, not because in any one case I 
have doubts amounting to conviction that fraud was 
attempted or consummated, but because there is, in my 
opinion, enough left to challenge the closest scrutiny, 
and arouse the greatest wonder, after passing by every- 
thing about the genuineness of which there can be two 
honest opinions. 

Referring to the spirit-writings, (so claimed,) of which 
fac-similes have been given, it should be observed that 
the imitation of handwriting in documents, instanta- 
neously produced, is, like most other phenomena of 
modern Spiritualism, nothing new. I have found, in 
Lane's " Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyp- 
tians" (Vol. I, pp. 362-3.), an account of the magical 
performances of a very celebrated Sheikh, named 
Isma'ee'l Ab'oo Roo-oo's, on the occasion of a visit to 
him by two Egyptian gentlemen, one of whom was 
known to, and indorsed by, the author. The Sheikh 
being asked to show proof of his skill, complied. 

One of the visitors asked that coffee might be served 



NO T FUL LY SA TI SPIED. 4 1 5 

to them in his father's set of cups and saucers, which 
he knew to be at home, a long distance off, In a few 
minutes the coffee was brought, in the identical cups 
he had named, or what appeared to be the same. He 
was next treated to sherbet, in his father's own glasses. 
He then wrote a letter to his father, and, giving it to 
the Sheikh, asked that it might be answered. " The 
magician took the letter, placed it behind a cushion of 
his deewa'n (divan), and, a few minutes after, removing 
the cushion, showed him that his letter w r as gone, and 
that another was in its place." The visitor opened and 
read the letter, and " found in it, in a handwriting 
which, he said, he could have sworn to be that of his 
father, a complete answer to what he had written, and 
an account of the state of his family, which he proved, 
on his return to Cairo, to be pefectly true." 

I now ask the reader to refer to my report of the 
Katie King affair, in Part II, and examine the fac- 
similes, there given, of the specimens of direct spirit- 
writing, obtained by me at two different seances with a 
non-professional lady medium, which seem to be the 
most curious and striking manifestations of the kind 
on record. In the light of such facts as these we may 
well suspend judgment as to the source of the writings 
given to me through Horatio Eddy's mediumship. 

That I am very far from satisfied with the results 
attained at Chittenden is already known. This arises 
from the fact that if barely a fair chance had been given 
me to apply tests and prescribe conditions, I would have 
made this work one of the most interesting ever written 
in its array of conclusive experiments. There never was 



4 1 6 THE IN VESTIGA TION NO T FR UITLESS. 

so great an opportunity afforded to the investigator to 
obtain satisfying proof of the immortal existence of 
human spirits, nor ever one so maliciously and ignorantly 
destroyed by spirits or mortals. Mr. Crookes' investiga- 
tions were limited by the tests he could apply to a single 
spirit, or at most one or two more, while here were nearly 
or quite four hundred encountered, nearly every one of 
which ought, if their appearance had been regulated by 
intelligent control, to have aided in the contribution of 
something valuable to our store of knowledge. 

But it is idle now to deplore what cannot be mended. 
We have gathered together enough to point the men of 
science in the direction which they should take. Enough 
has been rescued from oblivion to show the church the 
importance of neglecting no longer the chance that offers 
to get proof palpable to sustain them in their defence 
against the assault of the Materialist and the Atheist. 
The harvest truly is ready, but the laborers are few. 

There being no chance to fortify our philosophy or 
improve our system of ethics by the teachings of the 
Chittenden ghosts, it will be asked, as indeed it already 
has been many times, of what use are these phenomena? 
What do they promise to effect for the welfare of man- 
kind ? It is not my province to answer. It suffices that 
these are the phenomena — permitted to occur, in the 
providence of God, or by procurement of the devil, as 
you will — a positive, easily proven fact. 

It surely needs no great discernment to see that if they 
are not fraudulent they demand instant investigation. 
And to the further question, why, if they are real mani- 
festations, they are made in such a place, among such 



FUTURE USES OF SPIRITUALISM. 417 

people and such surroundings, I simply reply that I do 
not know. In other times it was a cause of reproach 
among the Pharisees that Christ was born in a stable 
among beasts, and was followed by disciples of base 
birth, instead of seeing the light in some stuccoed palace 
in the Jerusalem Fifth avenue, and having a company of 
perfumed aristocrats at his heels. I leave it to the straw- 
splitters to settle the question to their own satisfaction, 
and content myself with recording the fact that the phe- 
nomena of Chittenden are apparently real, at least to a 
certain extent, and they cannot be ignored any longer, 
v And now let me state a few facts by way of conclusion. 

I have heretofore confined my narrative to accounts of 
the reunion of separated families and the visits of friend- 
ship made by the people of the other world to those they 
love in this. I have reserved for my last Chapter an 
incident that shows that the time has possibly come when 
the trite adage " murder will out," is to have a terrible 
significance. It is always so much pleasanter to dwell 
upon the agreeable than the horrible, upon what attracts 
and charms rather than upon that which startles and 
appalls, that, I take it, no further explanation will be 
required of the fact above stated. But if any other 
reason were needed for the reservation of the story of 
the Griswold murder for the last Chapter, it may be found 
in my desire to leave upon the minds of a certain class 
of readers a strong impression that, should the investiga- 
tion of these spiritual phenomena result in the confirmation 
of their verity, a most important source of aid to the 
cause of justice might thus be discovered and availed of. 

If materialized spirits can address audiences, as I have 



41 8 A FOUL MURDER. 

heard them in the Eddy house, is there any reason why, 
after a time, they may not take the stand in a court of 
justice and testify against their murderers? What a day 
to be remembered would that be when the fictions of 
Shakspeare's imagination should be paralleled by the 
facts coming within our personal experience ; when our 
modern Hamlets, Banquos, and Duncans would stalk into 
the presence of judge and jury and show their bleeding 
wounds to the horror-stricken assassin. 

Now, of course, this will appear absurd to the great 
majority of persons who read this, and so it would have 
seemed to me before I went to Chittenden and saw what 
I did there ; but what does the reader say when I tell him 
that on the evening of September 28th I saw the spirit 
of a woman who was murdered on the night of Sunday, 
August 27th, 1865, at Williston, Vt., by a New York 
rough named John Ward alias Jerome Lavigne, by the 
procurement of her son-in-law, Charles Potter? That 
after her murder the woman appeared there with all her 
wounds upon her and described the whole scene ? Does 
that look as if it were quite so absurd to imagine that the 
same thing may, one day, be seen in a court-room, either 
with or without the presence of a " materializing 
medium ? " It is prophesied by the spirits at Eddys' 
that next September they will address the audience in 
that circle-room in full light and with people sitting about 
them upon the platform; why should not an equal effort 
be made to deter from crime, and, if need be, punish it? 

Mrs. Sarah Walker Griswold, a lady sixty years of 
age, lived with her husband on their farm in the town 
of Williston, and their adopted daughter and niece and 






HISTORY OF THE MURDER. 419 

her husband, Charles Potter. On the morning of the 
murder the Potters, their children, old Mr. Griswold, 
and Potter's brother went to Canada, leaving with Mrs. 
Griswold only a small boy, about thirteen years of age. 
On Monday morning a neighbor went to the house 
and discovered the body of Mrs. Griswold lying, half- 
naked, in a calf-pen some rods from the house in a 
horribly mutilated condition. 

The surgeons "found wounds on the left side of the 
head, fracturing the skull, which were undoubtedly 
produced by some blunt instrument. On the right 
side of the head were four or five contusions, probably 
made by the same instrument. There were also several 
stabs in the neck, one about two inches in length, from 
left to right, and severing the right external jugular 
vein. These wounds were evidently made by some 
sharp-pointed instrument. Two cuts were found on 
the back of the left hand, also on the back of the right 
hand, and one an inch and a half deep on the left side 
of the chin, passing to the right up to the centre of the 
lip. The knees were badly bruised as was the left side 
of the chest." 

In due course of time the murderer was tracked and 
brought to justice ; and the guilt of Potter being brought 
home to him, he also fell into the hands of the law. 
The artist has represented, in the picture accompanying 
this, the appearance of the spirit of Mrs. Griswold when 
she first came to the Eddy circle-room. When I saw 
her she presented a natural appearance, and was neatly 
attired in a white dress. On a previous occasion she 
was seen by a friend who knew her in life, a Mr. P. P. 



420 THE VICTIM MA TERIALIZED. 

Wilkins, of Winooski Falls (Vt.), who writes me that: 
"Mrs. Griswold materialized herself and I recognized 
her. She grasped my hand and presented me with a 
flower." The motive prompting Potter to the murder 
was a threat on her part to change her will so as to cut 
off his wife and himself from any share in her property, 
which she had accumulated in California in the course 
of a long residence there. 

The series of cuts relating to Honto, and the one 
introducing Mrs. Pritchard in a group with her son,* 
are designed to show that I am warranted in the 
assertion that the exact height of certain spirits has 
been ascertained by comparing them with that of liv- 
ing persons. Here we have Mrs. Pritchard measuring 
with her son, and the spirit squaw in such close rela- 
tion to Horatio (whose height is 5 feet 11 inches), Mrs. 
Cleveland (5 feet 7 inches), Mr. Pritchard (5 feet 
5 inches), and Mr. Ralph, of Utica, N. Y., that even if 
I had never seen her standing with her back against 
my scale affixed to the wall, at either side of the cabinet- 
door, I need have been at no loss to discover that she 
bears no resemblance in this particular to William Eddy, 
whose height (5 feet 9 inches) and weight (179 lbs.) 
have already been stated. If more has been said of this 
girl in these Chapters than of any other single spirit, it 
is because she has been oftener seen and more closely 
noticed. She holds the same relation to the Eddy 
circles, in frequency and variety of her appearances 
and acts, as does Katie King to the circles of Mr. and 
Mrs. Holmes, of Philadelphia. It is not true that she 

* See Page 265. 



FAREWELL TO CHITTENDEN. 423 

is always the first spirit to appear, nor that she appears 
every evening, as the attentive reader will recollect ; 
but she causes more of a sensation than almost any 
other of the weird visitors at the Chittenden seances by 
the vivacity of her performances, her thorough enjoy- 
ment of the situation, and her great flow of animal 
spirits. If it is ever discovered that she and her 
medium are identical, I shall have to confess that there 
are possibilities of deception in the transformation of 
personal appearance within the reach of this Vermont 
farmer, beyond anything I ever read of since the tales 
Qf the Yogiswara and Peruvian sorcerers, and of Zilto, 
the necromancer of the Court of King Wenceslaus, at 
once excited my wonder and aroused my skepticism. 

And now I turn my face away from Chittenden, and 
close the record of my interesting experiences at that 
place ; leaving each reader to digest the facts, and form 
a belief for himself. I doubt if three more memorable 
months were ever passed by any one ; and in future 
years I shall never be able to recall the secluded farm- 
house and its ghostly memories, without thinking of 
Tom Hood's verse: 

" And over all there hung a shade of fear, 
A sense of mystery the spirit daunted, 
And said, as plain as whisper in the ear, j 
The place is haunted." 



fW 



PART II. 



THE KATIE KING AFFAIR. 

I HAVE stated, in the Preface to this volume, the 
circumstances under which my investigation of the 
Katie King fiasco, in the city of Philadelphia, was 
undertaken. When I expressed the hope (see Page 
385) that some unbiased person would investigate the 
case, under proper test conditions, it was farthest from my 
thoughts that I would be the one selected for the dis- 
agreeable task. I had neither set myself up as an 
inquirer into the general facts of Spiritualism, nor was 
it a part of my plan to embrace any comprehensive sur- 
vey of the subject within the limits of this work. The 
Eddy manifestations were my theme, and such other 
matters as I might introduce were intended either to aid 
in arriving at a just opinion concerning their genuine- 
ness, or, at the most, to show how the phenomenon of 
u materialization," was regarded by the leaders of opinion 
in this country. 

But, when the Philadelphia journals heralded the fact 
that Katie King was no spirit, nor Nelson Holmes and 
his wife mediums, I was at once importuned, by many 
respected correspondents, to institute such an inquiry 
into the facts as might reveal the exact truth to that 
great body of the public who had relied implicitly upon 
the reports of Mr. Owen and General Lippitt, and 
adopted a belief in the actuality of the so-called 
materializations. 

These requests at last became so numerous and so 
425 



426 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

urgent that I could no longer doubt as to my duty in the 
premises. I was perfectly aware of the difficulty I should 
experience in sifting the truth out of the multitude of 
conflicting reports that had reached the public ear 
through the newspapers. I knew the thanklessness of 
the task — the certainty of abuse by one party or the 
other, whatever decision I might give — the misrepresen- 
tation of my motives — the challenging of my conclusions. 
I was only too well assured that a skeptical public 
would neither be grateful if I should prove the " materi- 
alizations " fraudulent, nor friendly if my tests should 
have an opposite result. I knew all this, but, neverthe- 
less, did not alter my determination, for several reasons. 
In the first place, I recollected the words of M. Bailly, 
the great Frenchman : " In every error there is a kernel 
of truth : let us seek to detach that kernel from the 
envelop that hides it from our eyes " ; secondly, I had 
Mr. Owen's own authority for it that " when a man of 
honest motive, seeking only the truth, plainly and impar- 
tially narrates his experience, that which he says usually 
bears with it to the upright mind an internal warrant of 
sincerity " (see his Footfalls, p. 55); and, finally, none 
but moral cowards hesitate to perform their duty, because 
of possible personal consequences. So, on or about the 
27th of December, 1874, I addressed a letter to the Hon. 
Robert Dale Owen, in which I stated that if Mr. and 
Mrs. Holmes were willing to submit their mediumship to 
the proof, and would agree to place themselves under 
such test conditions as I might prescribe, I would come 
to Philadelphia and make the investigation. 

I received, by return mail, a letter from Mr. Owen, in 
which that most respected and honorable gentleman was 
good enough to express himself as follows : 

"I am rejoiced at your proposal, and shall always hold myself 
your debtor for having made it. Accepted or rejected, proving or 
disproving the materializing powers of the mediums, it can eventuate 
only in good." 

The letter covered the desired invitation from the 
mediums ; which was in the following language : 

No. 825 Tenth Street, 
Philadelphia, December 28th, 1874. ; 
Dear Sir : — 

The undersigned, being willing to afford to intelligent and impar- 
tial investigators proofs of the reality of our mediumship, and, 



PREPARING FOR IVOR A'. 427 

especially, of the appearance of materialized spirit-forms through 

the same, and having confidence in your ability, and disposition to 

do equal justice, hereby invite you to attend our seances, and agree 

to submit to such reasonable scientific test conditions as you may 

prescribe. 

(Signed.) Jennie Holmes, 

for self, and Mr. Neeson Holmes, absent. 

To Colonel H. S. Olcott. 

Upon the 29th, I notified Mrs. Holmes that the invi- 
tation was accepted; and, upon the following Tuesday 
( January 5th), I was in Philadelphia, ready to begin. I 
found, however, that Mrs. Holmes was at her husband's 
place in Vineland, N. J., where he was lying very ill 
with a hemorrhage, and that she would not be in town 
until the following week. I concluded, therefore, to 
employ the interval of time in possessing myself of all 
the attainable facts of the case, and, to this end, sought 
interviews both with the principal parties through whose 
instrumentality the alleged expose had been made, 
and with those who still had confidence in the honest 
mediumship of the Holmeses. 

I obtained from both sides such documents as might 
assist me in arriving at a correct judgment. Among 
them were original letters from Mr. Holmes to various 
correspondents ; letters from the pseudo Katie King ; 
notes written by the alleged spirit to Mr. Owen, to Dr. 
Adolph Fellger, and to Mrs. R. K. Stoddard, at various 
times during last Summer, and handed to them through 
the cabinet-window ; the original manuscript of the com- 
munication supposed at the time to have been written 
to Mr. Owen by the detached spirit-hand of Frederick. 
W. Robertson, but now alleged to be a fraud and decep- 
tion ; and, finally, files of the Philadelphia newspapers, 
containing the details of the alleged expose. I tried to 
secure a personal interview with the woman who pre- 
tended to have personated Katie King and deceived the 
public, but was unsuccessful ; it being asserted, falsely, 
as I afterward discovered, that she was not in town, nor 
was her whereabouts known. 

That my readers may understand the nature of the 
problem presented to me for solution, it will be necessary 
for me to make a brief statement of facts. 

" In May, 1874," according to a pamphlet issued by 
Dr. Henry T. Child, a Philadelphia Spiritualist, " a spirit 



428 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

was materialized" at the seances of Mr. Nelson Holmes 
and his wife, Mrs. Jennie Holmes, " and appeared at the 
aperture of the cabinet in which Mr. Holmes was sitting, 
who gave the name of ' Katie King.' Several other 
spirits appeared, some of whom were recognized." On 
the 20th of the same month, the author tells us, the 
spirit of John King, Katie's father, also made its appear- 
ance and was identified. Dr. Child saw him, and " con- 
versed with him for some time." The spirit, moreover, 
expressed a wish that the Doctor would write out a 
correct account of his, (King's) earth-life, from his dicta- 
tion. He informed him that he had known him (Dr. 
Child), for years " as a writer and worker," that his 
guides had been at first quite reluctant to have him, 
(King), come, lest he should take the Doctor " out of the 
earth-form," but that no harm should result if the Doctor 
would only set to work to write out the ex-buccaneer's 
autobiography. The result of this colloquy was, as Dr. 
Child informs us in his Preface, that he gave an hour 
in private each day to John and Katie, and " received 
from them " the narratives embodied in the pamphlet in 
question. 

It will be observed that our author unqualifiedly 
asserts two facts; (i) That the materialized spirits of the 
man John King, alias Sir Henry Morgan, and the girl 
Katie King appeared at the seances of Mr. and Mrs. 
Holmes ; and (2) that the same spirits visited him 
an hour each day, and dictated the autobiographical 
narratives which compose the pamphlet to which 
allusion has been made. 

Upon examination, these narratives prove to be very 
explicit and circumstantial accounts of the earthly 
experiences of the man and girl ; the manner of their 
deaths ; their experiences and progress in the world of 
spirits; and their relations to the present spiritualistic 
movement upon our earth. They are mutually corrobo- 
rative, and at the same time, indorse the reality of the 
spirit appearances in the Holmes cabinet. To make 
his certification of their genuineness and importance 
more emphatic, Dr. Child uses, in the concluding 
paragraph of his Preface, the following language : 

" These narratives, and especially the concluding one, enter quite 
fully into an explanation of the spiritual manifestations. The 
statements are of a profound character, and the •writer, as an aman- 
ftensis, asks for them the most candid and deliberate consideration." 



KA TIE 'S "A UTOBIOGRAPHY." 429 

At page 35, he introduces the narrative of Katie 
King, (the same whom he tells us he saw so often at 
the Holmes seances) with the assertion that " On the 
fifth of June 1874, Katie and her father came to me in 
my office, and after a brief conversation, she said, ' I 
am now ready to begin my narrative,' and I wrote the 
following: 

" My Dear Friend and Brother : — 

I should be very sorry if you inferred from the manner in which 
I appear and speak to you and other friends when / am materialized 
that that is a criterion of my present condition etc." 

Here we have the positive assertion, by the Katie 
King dictating to Dr. Child, in his office, that the Katie 
King whom he had seen materialized at the Holmes' 
and who had addressed him rudely, was none other than 
herself; and the public was led by this assertion, as 
well as by interesting articles contributed by General 
F. J. Lippitt, to the Galaxy Magazine, of December, 
1874, and by Mr. Owen, to the Alla?itic Monthly, of 
January 1875, as well as by frequent contributions by 
the latter to the newspapers, to imagine that at least the 
Katie of the public seances was really a visitor to us 
from the other world. 

Such was the general belief until about the 5th of 
January 1875, when a card was published by Mr. Owen, 
to the effect that circumstantial evidence had come to 
his knowledge which made it necessary that he should 
withdraw his previous expressions of confidence in the 
Holmeses. A similiar card was issued by Dr. Child, 
who gave notice that, from and after that date, he 
would have nothing more to do with the seances of 
those mediums. On the 15th, Mr. Owen wrote me as 
follows : 

" You may have seen in the Banner of Light, or quoted from it, 
a brief note of mine withdrawing the assurance hitherto given by 
me of confidence in the Holmeses. An explanatory article from me 
will appear in the Banner of December 19 (next Saturday). 

I believe they have been latterly playing us false, which may be 
only supplementing the genuine with the spurious ; but it does cast 
a doubt on last summer's manifestations, so that I shall probably 
not use them in my next book on Spiritualism. It is a loss ; but 
you and Mr. Crookes have amply made it up." 

I quote the above because the same in substance has 



430 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

been said by Mr. Owen in the public prints, and. these 
paragraphs succinctly define his position at the time. 
The promised explanatory article made its appearance 
at the time designated, and set forth that the writer 
had some reason to fear that the spirit Katie King had 
been personated by a woman hired for the purpose by 
Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, and that there was more or less 
doubt if any of the apparent materializations had been 
genuine. A long letter from Dr. Child was also pub- 
lished, taking the same position. Of course the matter 
at once acquired very wide notoriety ; the Philadelphia 
Inquirer, at various times gave free and detailed accounts 
of the manner in which the fraud had been perpetrated ; 
and the patient and credulously skeptical public for the 
thousandth time thanked the gods that this spiritualis- 
tic humbug was finally, and forever exploded. 

There was still alas ! a flavor of aloes in the sugar 
pill. The real name of the woman claiming to have 
enacted the part of Katie, as well as that of the person, 
through whose instrumentality she had been detected 
and induced to expose the nefarious plot, were carefully 
concealed. 

On the 9th and nth of January, the Inquirer printed 
what purported to be an autobiographical sketch of 
" Katie King," duly attested by her oath, under her 
pseudonym, before William B. Hanna, Judge of the 
Orphans' Court, in the presence of William W. Hard- 
ing, L. Clarke Davis, John G. Ford, A. C. Lambdin 
M. D., Joseph Robinson and John J. McKenna. At 
this same interview: "the robes, coronet, etc. used by 
Katie King, by which name she must be known," were 
produced and identified, and in the Inquirer of the 9th, 
there appeared, in the editorial columns, the following 
certificate : 

" I hereby certify that I witnessed the signing of the above con- 
fession of Katie King, and that it was signed, declared and affirmed 
to be true by the person who appeared at the seances of Mr. and Mrs. 
Nelson Holmes, No. 50 North Ninth Street, and No. 825 North 
Tenth Street, as the materialized spirit of Katie King. 

Henry T. Child M. D., No. 634 Race St. 

This certificate was given four days after I arrived in 
Philadelphia, and had announced to Dr. Child, in per- 
son, that I was about to make a thorough investigation 
into the facts, and into the mediumship of Mr. and 



AN INCOMPETENT WITNESS. 431 

Mrs. Holmes, under strictly test conditions! It will 
be observed that its identification of the unknown 
woman as the supposed spirit Katie King is unqualified 
and precise; — as much so, almost, as Dr. Child's pre- 
vious certification of the identity of the spirit of the 
Holmes seances, with the spirit who dictated her auto- 
biography to him, in his office, during the months of 
May and June, 1874. 

Reading it in connection with the statements of the 
pamphlet, it is difficult to escape a conviction that a 
witness who could so place himself on both sides of a 
case would be turned out of court as incompetent. If 
Mr. Owen was deceived by tricksters into believing the 
cunning wench of the cabinets a materialized spirit, no 
graver charge could lie against him than that of sur- 
rendering his caution too easily to his credulity ; but 
with Dr. Child the case is far different. He was not, 
like Mr. Owen, obliged to depend alone upon his 
external senses for the formation of his convictions, 
for, as he informs us in his pamphlet, he "has long 
been subject to influences from the interior world, and 
having been accustomed to see and hear spirits, has 
learned, etc." This inner sense, this unerring instinct 
of the soul, it was that told him, in the privacy of his 
office, that the real John and real Katie were talking to 
him, both there and at the Holmes seances, and his 
certification of the fact gave force to the public belief 
that the apparitions were real. 

That a man so doubly sure, and a £eer so doubly 
endowed could, at one moment, act as biographer for 
a girl spirit, whose identity was made an hundredfold 
more certain by weeks of familiar intercourse, and, at 
another, certify that the veiled woman exhibiting her 
tinsel robes and flummery coronets before a council of 
editors, was the self-same phantom, makes it absurd 
to place any weight upon his testimony, except as sup- 
ported by that of others, or by documents that have 
not been tampered with. This, of course, is said with 
no ill-feeling towards Dr. Child, and he himself must 
have already apprehended the position into which his 
precipitate action has forced him before the public. 
His friends, who know him best and feel assured of his 
personal integrity, may charge him only with a shock- 
ing lack of discretion; but the outside world, who are 
never nice (and alas ! too often unjust) in their estimate 



432 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

of motives, are quite as likely as not to find their expla- 
nation for this change of front in the promise or 
realization of personal advantage ; which, for aught I 
can prove, may be the very opposite of the truth. 

While this witness is upon the stand, one question 
must be asked : If the Katie autobiography was dictated 
by the same person who showed herself at Holmes' ; 
and the signer of the Hanna affidavit is the same woman 
who appeared " as the materialized spirit of Katie 
King ;" and Eliza White was the one who swore to the 
affidavit, then it must have been Eliza White who 
dictated the Katie autobiography to Dr. Child ; or, no 
autobiography was dictated ; or, the spirit-girl is a 
reality, and Eliza is a liar, and Child's later certificate 
does not convey the truth : which of these is true ? 

The voluminous document, so strongly certified by 
the worthy Doctor, demands a brief analysis at this 
point. It comprises a personal narrative, and numerous 
letters from Mr. Holmes and one from his wife to the 
pseudonymous Katie King. 

The woman begins by stating that she writes " this 
narrative in the interest of truth, and for no other pur- 
pose than to expose the guilty ; from no prospect of 
personal gain, and entirely without malice towards 
any one." She tells us that she " was born on the first 
day of January, 185 1, in Massachusetts,"' that she pro- 
poses to be known by the public only as " Katie King," 
and adds : " Like all others, I have, of course, a real 
name {sic), but the public have no interest in knowing 
what it is. I was married (foolish girl) when I was 
between fourteen and fifteen years of age. I have one 
child eight years old. My husband died upward of two 
years ago, leaving me without any means of support, 
and through my own exertions I have provided for 
my child and my aged mother." 

She was helped to a sum of money by " a very near 
friend of her mother's," and with it set up as a lodging- 
house-keeper in the city of Philadelphia ; in which 
capacity she received Mr. and Mrs. Holmes under her 
roof as tenants, in the month of March, 1874. These 
persons began to give " their pretended spiritual mani- 
festations," but Katie King did not appear until some 
time afterward. A description of the *' dark seance " 
of Mrs. Holmes follows, in which she asserts that the 
speaking of spirits in audible voices, and the physical 



THE CONSPIRACY. 433 

manifestations, are to be explained as trickery and 
deception. The dark seance is followed by one for 
" materialization," in which faces purporting to be 
those of spirits are exhibited at the apertures, or win- 
dows of the cabinet, but which, our informant tells us, 
are only masks such as can be purchased in the shops 
for " ten cents apiece." " They are placed," says she, 
" in the hands of the medium and raised up to the 
aperture, and by him manipulated to suit surrounding 
circumstances." 

Shortly after they were settled in a new house, in 
Ninth street, the project of engaging this woman to 
personate Katie King was broached by Mrs. Holmes. 
Prefacing the confession with the remark that it is 
useless to repeat all the conversation that passed 
between them, although there might be two opinions 
upon that point, she says: "I made up my mind to 
play the part for a short time, hoping that something 
better would turn up in my interest : in the meantime 
I would be earning my expenses and doing no one any 
harm." Her debut occurred on the evening of May 
12th, her fair form being clad in a thin, white French 
muslin robe, fastened with a belt, a white veil thrown 
over her head, and her face and arms being whitened 
by a free application of cosmetic. The cabinet had 
been duly constructed with a view to this fraud, by 
being placed in front of a door communicating with 
an adjacent bed-room, and a false panel was made in 
its rear wall, through which the pseudo " spirit " could 
make her entrances and exits. The reader will please 
note this fact, for there will be occasion to refer to it 
again. 

Everything worked to a charm. The face of our 
fair but frail one was shown at the aperture to an 
admiring circle, withdrawn, shown again, some words 
were whispered by her, and " Materialization " was a 
fixed fact. It became the talk of the town, crowds 
came to witness the lovely apparition, and money 
flowed into the coffers of the fortunate showman who, 
she gives us to understand was none other than Dr. 
Child himself. 

We are let into the secret of Mr. Owen's appearance 
at the seances, Dr. Child transmitting to him an invi- 
tation from " Katie" to come and see her; much the 
same as I, myself, was, at a later day, invited to come. 



434 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

He, like myself, was glad of the opportunity to see a 
spirit, so pure and gentle, face to face, and in due 
course moved to Philadelphia, and was at once addressed 
in terms of filial tenderness by the fair ghost, and 
reciprocated her affection. She wrote him notes, gave 
him a lock of her golden hair (cut from a wig), received 
presents of beads, and crosses, and flowers from him, 
and generally, used his established reputation and ripe 
scholarship as a means of profitable advertisement for 
her disgusting trickery. Things went on thus from 
bad to worse, dupes being made by hundreds, if not 
thousands, and the fame of the spirit spreading through- 
out the whole world, wherever books are read and 
newspapers taken. 

Meanwhile, remorse entered the soul of the actress 
in this comedy of shame, and, in her pitiful story, she 
paints us a picture of herself as she tossed on her couch 
in the still watches of the night. " After the first two 
or three nights my whole nature " says she, " revolted 
at the idea of this gross deception * * *. The interest 
manifested by the people kept increasing, which only 
aggravated my sensitive nature {sic). I was often sick 
at heart; I felt that I was guilty of a great crime. 
Night after night was my pillow wet with tears ; the 
heart would overflow with grief. I appeared to be 
surrounded with a cloud of sorrow from which there 
was no escape. Here was my helpless little boy, and 
frail, old mother looking to me for bread. In my 
troubled dreams I seemed to see their eyes riveted on 
me, saying, ' Our whole hope and dependence is on 
you.'" But the theme is too painful ; let us draw the 
curtain upon this sacred sorrow of the conscience- 
stricken woman ! Poor widow ! Sweet boy ! Help- 
less old mother ! 

Success naturally made both the mediums and their 
ally bolder, and many pranks were played from first 
to last. Among these she mentions the simulated 
fading away and re-forming of her shape, by the help ot 
black cloths; the appearance of an Indian-squaw spirit; 
the apparition of the late General Rawlings, by some 
scoundrelly confederate whose name is suppressed; 
the writing of a communication to Mr. Owen, by the 
detached hand of the spirit of that famous divine Fred- 
erick W. Robertson; and, finally, the taking of her 
photograph, in the character of Katie King, by daylight. 



FIBS AND FALSEHOODS. 435 

But Nemesis was on her track, and her day of 
detection came. A gentleman attendant at the seances, 
whom she describes as having " a very mild, modest 
manner," and whose name, in spite of her attempts at 
concealment, has since been declared in sundry news- 
papers to be W. O. Leslie, a railroad contractor residing 
in Philadelphia, called at the house one day, while the 
Holmeses were taking their vacation in Blissfield, 
Michigan, (and she was in sole charge of the premises), 
and interrogated her. She saw that he suspected her 
identity with Katie, and she shuddered; as, indeed, one 
of so high-strung a temperament might be expected to 
do. But nevertheless she lied to him, and the mild, 
modest-mannered man took his leave. Then how 
" mean " she felt, " for she had told a falsehood, and 
furthermore, the gentleman knew that she had. If 
any of our readers," she ingenuously remarks, " have 
ever occupied the humiliating position of having been 
caught in telling a fib, and experienced the mental 
suffering which follows, particularly to those who 
have a sensitive disposition, they will know something 
of the experience of the lady on this occasion." 

But the gentleman did not press matters, and for a 
time she was safe. 

The Holmeses left for the West in July, and our 
autobiographer says that by preconcert she followed 
them on the 8th of September, reaching Blissfield on 
the 12th, and appearing in her favorite character at a 
seance the same evening. Blissfield being a small vil- 
lage, she was confined to her room constantly for fear 
that she might be recognized, and a weary time it was 
to her. After a fortnight had elapsed a circle was 
held one evening to accommodate a party from Adrian, 
and an initial person named "Mr. B" caught her in 
his arms, and came near exposing the whole deception. 
But she escaped from him, through a clever ruse of 
Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, and this brought matters in that 
quarter to a close. She and Mrs. Holmes left for Cold 
Water, Mich., and gradually found their way back to 
Philadelphia, via Toledo. 

Tired and disgusted with the whole affair, she now 
"called on Doctor Child," stated to him that she was 
penniless, asked him to help her recover some forty 
dollars the Holmeses owed her, and promised that "if 
he would comply with my request, / would tell him all 



43 6 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

about the particulars of Katie King, that I was fully posted 
in the matter, and would tell him everything." But the 
Doctor turned a deaf ear to her, which excited her 
amazement ; as well it might. 

She encountered Mr. Holmes at the Doctor's house, 
and, a few days subsequently, entered into an arrange- 
ment with that person, to write a letter to the former 
retracting what she had said; for as she remarks 
"Necessity knows no law: I had just ten cents in my 
pocket." The letter was dictated to her by Holmes, 
and by her mailed to an acquaintance in Massachusetts, 
to be re-mailed thence to Doctor Child, and thus convey 
to him the impression that she was far away from 
Philadelphia. 

She no longer lived under the same roof with the 
Holmes family, and one day was surprised by a visit 
from the " mild and modest " Mr. Leslie, who taxed 
her outright with having played the part of Katie, and 
offered her pecuniary assistance, — "substantial aid," she 
calls it; and adds that he put the question, "Now 
please state to me how much it will take to relieve you 
from your present embarrassment." This sort of argu- 
ment proved as efficacious as it had before on various 
occasions, when advanced by Holmes; and, one by one, 
she produced the stock of crosses, beads, and jewelry, 
which she had accumulated in her character-part by 
the donations of admiring visitors at the seances. 

The concluding scene of the comedy was soon played. 
On the evening of the 5th of December, a mock seance 
was held, at which she enacted for Mr. Owen, Dr. 
Child, and two others, the " business " of her spirit role, 
and Mr. Owen's card was forthwith given to the public. 
It is safe to say that no document connected with this 
subject ever made a greater sensation. It was a stag- 
gering blow, not only to the great multitude of luke- 
warm investigators, but also to Mr. Owen's warmest 
personal friends. These latter could not forgive his 
making so unqualified a recantation of all his previous 
guarantees of the value of his experiments with these 
mediums, without, at least, devoting some time to 
putting their mediumship to the proof, and so discover- 
ing and separating the true manifestations from the 
false. 

I have thus rapidly sketched the story of this woman, 
so as to compress within these few pages the substance 



POINTS. 437 

of a statement which occupies thirteen columns of solid 
type in the Inquirer. The salient points of her pre- 
tended revelation may be stated as follows : 

(i) She says she was born on the first of January, 
1851. 

(2) She has a real name, but the public have no 
interest in knowing it. 

(3) She is a widow ; her husband having died two 
years ago. 

(4) The mediumship of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes is a 
gross misrepresentation in toto, not only the pretended 
" materializations " being fictitious, but also the phe- 
nomena which occur in their dark seances. 

(5) As early as May, 1874, she began to personate 
Katie King, in a trick walnut cabinet, provided with 
movable boards in the back, by which she entered it 
from an adjoining bed-chamber. 

(6) The notes given by Katie to Mr. Owen and 
others were written by her. 

(7) The locks of hair given by her to various persons 
were cut from a wig she wore. 

(8) She was burdened by shame and grief at the 
deception she practiced, and the falsehoods she told. 

(9) She played the parts of other spirits beside 
Katie, and a confederate of hers appeared as General 
Rawlings. 

(10) The photograph sold by Dr. Child as that of 
Katie King, was in fact her own portrait. 

(11) She joined the Holmeses in Michigan, and 
there played Katie to small but select audiences, and 
was once actually caught in the arms of a skeptical 
investigator. 

(12) She offered to divulge the fraud to Dr. Child, 
if he would pay her, or cause the Holmeses to pay her, 
a sum of money. 

(13) She resumed the criminal relations of conspiracy 
with Holmes, and in pursuance thereof wrote the letter 
to Child retracting her previous assertions to him. 

(14) She finally was offered money by her Unknown 
to expose the swindle, accepted the proposition, and 
gave, on the evening of December 5 th, a mock seance. 
It should be stated, further, that, both at this seance, 
and at an interview with Mr. Owen and others, the 
next day, she was so closely veiled that no one had a 
glimpse of her features. " Katie was so completely 



438 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

disguised," says she, "no one would have recognized her 
as the same who had personated the spirit" 

The italics are mine, and are designed to call atten- 
tion to a performance wholly in keeping with her 
behavior throughout this affair. In the concealment 
of her name ; the concealment of the name of the per- 
son designated in her autobiography as an " amateur 
detective/' since asserted to be Mr. Leslie; in the veil- 
ing of her face at the mock-seance and subsequent 
interview; worst of all, in the swearing to her affidavit 
under the cover of an alias, we have conduct that is 
calculated to make us view with the greatest suspicion 
both the veracity of her statements, and the motives 
actuating her to make them. When we add to this the 
alleged fact of her concealment in Philadelphia, while 
pretending to be elsewhere, at the time of my visit, 
and the failure of my attempt to get a sight of her, 
such confidence as might have been generously 
accorded to the story of a self-confessed swindler, liar 
and cheat is wholly destroyed. 

A person paraded before the public in such a charac- 
ter as she assumes, must of course expect to be closely 
criticised, and have inquiry made into her antecedents; 
for her reputation for truth, and her moral character 
have a most important bearing upon the question 
whether her tale shall be believed. The word of 
states' witnesses is always taken with great caution, 
and few juries are disposed to deprive an accused per- 
son of liberty or life upon such testimony, when 
unsupported. 

I am sorry to say that an investigation into the per- 
sonal history of this woman discloses little to her credit, 
and much to the contrary. Her real name is Eliza 
Trances White, but she is said to have passed under a 
number of aliases, at various times. Her family name is 
Potter, and she was born in Lee, Massachusetts, appar- 
ently long before the date sworn to in her pretended 
autobiography. Her father, a stone-cutter by trade, 
moved to Canton, Connecticut, and died there. Her 
mother and the rest of the family were then thrown upon 
the bounty of Wilson B. White, commonly called " Bub " 
White, and took up their abode in the town of Winsted. 
Eliza lived with White for some ten or twelve years, and 
bore him a son, but I have been unable to ascertain 
whether they were married. 



A BOGUS WIDOW. 439 

At the outbreak of the war, he enlisted in the 19th 
Connecticut Volunteers, a Heavy Artillery regiment, as 
Drum Major, and Eliza joined him in the defences of 
Washington City, where she cooked ior an officers' mess, 
and worked so hard to support herself as to gain the 
commendation of her husband's superiors. After a lapse 
of a year and a half, the regiment was ordered to the 
front, and Eliza is reported to have abandoned herself to 
a life of immorality in Alexandria. Upon the return of 
the regiment, at the close of the war, White settled down 
in Winsted, and became the proprietor of a low drink- 
ing-saloon called the "Rock House." He also traveled 
with a " side-show " of natural curiosities and clog- 
dancers and ballad-singers, and Eliza took part in both 
dancing and singing. 

The Winsted Press says of her : 

" It seems that Katie has been known here as the wife of Mr. 
Wilson B. White. She left him a while since, Winsted being too 
'stoopid' and monotonous for her enterprising spirit, and, following 
the leadings of her own sweet will, tarried a while in Brooklyn, then 
in Manhattan and finally dropped down upon the city of brotherly 
love as a soft, white, spiritual thing, direct from that other 
* * * city of love, 
Where saints and angels dwell." 

The Waterbury American, another journal of the 
vicinity, enters more into details, thus : 

" Katie King alias Mrs. White also had some experience in the 
variety show business. Some years ago her husband, familiarly 
known as " Bub " White, gave a sort of variety entertainment, under 
canvas, on the fair grounds in Litchfield, while the annual county 
cattle-show was in progress. The show consisted of a wild-cat 'as 
ferocious and untamable as a South American hyena,' a singing boy 
' with a voice like the mocking-bird's,' and ' Bub,' who was a violin 
player, composed the orchestra. Katie King made her debut on that 
occasion as a serio-comic vocalist, and as she was endowed with a 
good share of personal charms, and appeared in a bewitching cos- 
tume, she took immensely, and the country swains poured out their 
'dime and a half like water." 

Disagreement of a serious nature finally occurred 
between the pair, on account of White's enforced support 
of Eliza's family, and the interference of an intemperate 
son of his in the government of the household. The 
result was that, in or about January, 1874, she left 

15* 



44° THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

Winsted with her own child, a boy of nine or ten years, 
and has been shifting for herself in Philadelphia ever 
since. An uncle residing in Brooklyn advanced her some 
$600 to set herself up in the lodging-house business, and 
her meeting with the Holmeses followed soon after. 

Her sworn statement that she is a widow of two years' 
standing, is false. I have recently seen and conversed 
with White himself. I pressed him to inform me if he 
were ever married to Eliza, and he declined to answer, 
remarking that " a man was not obliged to say anything 
to criminate himself." Her statement that she is depend- 
ent upon her own exertions for support, for herself and 
son, he unhesitatingly contradicted ; for he says he is 
worth considerable property, and is ready to provide for 
her whenever she returns home and agrees to behave 
herself. In fact, as we walked together through the 
streets of the village, he pointed out several tenements 
which he said were his property. Other persons corrobo- 
rated this statement, and I found that it was generally 
admitted that he was in comfortable circumstances. He 
has a poor opinion of the woman's dramatic talents, and 
does not regard her as competent to fill an engagement 
in a " variety theatre." 

Upon inquiring of a number of respectable citizens of 
Winsted, I found that her reputation for morality was 
not good, but how much of this is due to prejudice I 
cannot say. Parties formerly connected with her hus- 
band's regiment agree in the statement that her conduct 
in Alexandria was not that of a virtuous woman. 

That her reputed husband is not 'dead, as she alleges, 
the following certificate will show : 

[■ Winsted, Conn., Feb. 5th, 1875. 

I hereby certify that I am personally acquainted with a woman 
named Eliza White, whose maiden name was Potter ; I also know 
Wilson B. White, commonly known as " Bob " White, the reputed 
husband of the said Eliza ; I am also acquainted with her sister who 
is the wife of James Adams, and also with her brother. 

The said Wilson B. White is now and has been for many years 
a resident of this town, but the said Eliza is now in the city of 
Philadelphia, as I am informed ; and is, or was at last accounts, 
living in the same house with a family of spiritual mediums, whose 
names I do not know. 

Stephen W. Sage, 

Chief of Police. 



DAMAGING TESTIMONY. 441 

While in Philadelphia, I met a gentleman named Allen, 
said to be a Justice of the Peace at Vineland, N. J., and, 
as I learn by inquiries made at Lee, Massachusetts, a 
trustworthy person, who gave me much information as to 
Eliza's early history, which, at my request, he put into 
the form of the following affidavit : 

" City of Philadelphia, ) 
State of Pennsylvania. J 

" Hosea Allen of Landis Township, 
Cumberland County and State of New Jersey, a Justice of the Peace, 
being duly sworn according to law deposes and says, that he has read 
an article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer of January gth and 
nth, 1875, entitled, "Katie King," "Her full history as related by 
herself," which article is supported by the affidavit of "Katie King," in 
which she states she was born on the first day of January, 1851, in 
the State of Massachusetts, and that she, in collusion with Mr. Nelson 
Holmes and his wife, Mrs. Jennie Holmes, did, at No. 50 North 
Ninth Street, Philadelphia, during the last Summer, fraudulently 
personate a spirit-form known as "Katie King," from the 12th of 
May, 1874, and other alleged spirit-forms which appeared after June 
20, 1874, at the seances given by Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, at that place. 
And deponent further says, that he lived at Lee, Berkshire County, 
Massachusetts, from 1S38 until 1863, that from 1842 until 1857 he 
was superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-School of 
that town, that about 1846, Eliza Potter, (since married to a man by 
the name of Wilson B. White,) became a pupil in that Sunday-School, 
that she was at that time apparently about six years old, and that he 
has every reason to believe she cannot be under thirty-five years, 
that she attended the school at irregular intervals for six or seven 
years, and continued to live in the town several years after she left 
the school ; that during that time she was a very wayward girl, and 
caused her father a great deal of trouble ; that she was so untruthful 
that those to whom she spoke never knew when to believe her, and 
that her moral reputation in other respects, was as bad as it could be. 
Deponent further says that in June last, he visited Mr. and Mrs. 
Holmes at No. 50 North Ninth Street, Philadelphia ; that on entering 
the sitting-room on that occasion, he saw and recognized Eliza 
W T hite (formerly Eliza Potter), who at once recognized him and 
called him by name ; that he remained at the house two days, during 
which time he saw and conversed with her frequently, and cannot be 
mistaken as to her identity. That on the same afternoon, Dr. Henry 
T. Child, assisted by a mechanic and himself, put up the black 
walnut cabinet which was afterwards used at the subsequent seances, 
that they only completed the work a short time before the circle was 



442 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

to meet on that evening ; that he remembers distinctly that Dr. Child 
called his attention to the fact that the battens were being fastened 
with forty screws ; that as the cabinet was then constructed in his 
presence, it was impossible for any one to have entered it or left it by 
way of the adjoining room, or in any other manner, without being seen 
by all present. That just before the circle commenced that evening, he, 
deponent, left his room in the third story, and in passing the door of 
the front room, which is directly over the circle-room, he saw Mrs. 
White sitting in that room, that frequently while the circle continued, 
ne heard Mrs. White distinctly humming tunes, the front windows 
of both rooms being open, and he also heard her walking about the 
room. That five or six different faces appeared at the apertures of 
the cabinet ; also, several hands and arms were thrust out of the 
same apertures during the seance, among which "Katie King" 
appeared several times. Thai the latter spoke in an audible whisper 
from the cabinet several times ; that while she was so talking, the 
singing of Mrs. White in the room above became so annoying as to 
cause remark by those in the circle, and interfered with the hearing 
of the voice from the cabinet, and that he cannot be mistaken about 
the voice humming or singing being that of Mrs. White. Deponent 
further says that it was impossible for Mrs. White on that occasion 
to have personated " Katie King ;" and he further says that he asked 
Mrs. White during his stay at the house, whether she had attended 
the seances at that place, to which she replied, she had attended 
them but once, and that she thought them wonderful. 

" In Testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and affix the 
seal this 22d day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousapd 
eight hundred and seventy-five. 

HOSEA ALLEN, Esqr." 
, " Sworn and subscribed this 22d day of January, A. D. 1875. 

FRANCIS HOOD, [Seal] 

Alderman" 

This witness, if unimpeached, convicts Eliza of more 
perjuries than one, for he not only challenges her age, 
but also shows that, upon at least one occasion, it must 
have been physically impossible for her to have been 
down stairs personating Katie King, when, up stairs, in 
the chamber overhead, she was making such a racket as 
to disturb the seance while Katie was out of the cabinet, 
among the spectators. I give this affidavit for what it is 
worth, and those who know Judge Allen better than I 
can decide what credence to accord to his statements. 
I should add that Dr. Child's friends deny emphatically 
that he assisted in putting up the cabinet ; and, on the 



THE KATIE KING CABINET. 443 

other hand, will say that Judge Allen's story of Mrs. 
White's being up stairs upon the evening in question, 
has been corroborated to me by the statements of others 
who were present. 

If the reader will now refer back to Eliza's statement 
that she began her personations of Katie King in a trick 
walnut cabinet in the Ninth Street house, I will venture 
a few remarks upon that head. 

In her "Autobiography of Katie King," she describes 
the cabinet as being made of dark, or walnut boards 
across one corner of the room, and illustrates the same 
by a diagram, which it is not worth while to copy here. 
Now, it happens that in his article in the December 
Galaxy, General Lippitt (a gentleman of the most unim- 
peachable honor) describes the cabinet from which he 
saw Katie emerge, as quite a different affair. He says : 

" The cabinet or sanctum in which spirits were said to clothe 
themselves in mortal forms, consisted of the following simple 
arrangement : The bedroom door was left open at an angle of 60 
deg. ; on the opposite door-post a second door was attached, which 
came out to meet it at the same angle ; and when the two doors thus 
met, the recess formed was obviously an equilateral triangle, just 
large enough to comfortably contain the medium, Mr. Holmes, 
seated in a chair. Whenever this little sanctum was to be used, the 
light was excluded from above by a triangular piece of wood laid 
across the tops of the two doors. This cover was lined on the 
inside with black cloth, as were also the insides of the two doors. 
The air being thus shut out from the little closet, the necessity of 
the air holes through the wood partition was apparent. Through 
the one of these two doors which faced the spectators, at the height 
of some five feet from the floor, was a circular aperture or window, 
about ten inches in diameter, at which the faces were to be seen. 
A black curtain hung on the inside of it, which was drawn aside 
just before a face presented itself. 

The most searching examination of this sanctum, which was 
usually made by invitation just before the sitting commenced, both 
on the parlor and on the bedroom side of the board partition, failed 
to detect the slightest indication of any trap, wire, or other arrange- 
ment for the use of machinery or for deception. The first two or 
three evenings I attended, I made a careful examination myself, 
and on one occasion jointly with a professional magician, a pupil of 
Blitz, who told me he was perfectly satisfied that " there was no 
chance for any trick there." 



444 TIIE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

General Lippitt, in. a recent communication to the 
Banner of Light, says that the cabinet Eliza describes 
was not erected until the 5th of June, whereas his attend- 
ance at the seances occurred in the early and middle 
part of May. It scarcely needs an enumeration of the 
wonderful phenomena witnessed by that gentleman — 
such as the melting out of Katie's eyes, when she had 
been too long exposed to the light ; the simultaneous 
appearance of numerous little and big hands at the 
aperture; and the identification of sundry spirits by their 
relatives — to satisfy us that Eliza's pretended revelations 
have no bearing upon his experiences. 

I pass over, for the present, the remaining points made 
in the so-called Autobiography, because the best answer 
to them is to be found in the report of what occurred 
during my investigation of the Holmes mediumship. 

I cannot too earnestly press upon my readers the 
attitude I am determined to maintain towards this whole 
spiritualistic question. What I am in search of is proof 
positive that the partial or complete materialization of 
spirit-forms has occurred, and can occur again under 
laws now occult. I have not, nor will I play the part of 
the monchard, searching out the immorality of mediums 
or the trickeries they resort to, except in so far as it may 
be necessary, in the one case, to weigh their testimony, 
and, in the other, to learn how their roguery may be 
made impossible of repetition. It is nothing to the cause 
of Science that ninety-nine times mediums have tricked, 
but it is of prime importance to it to know that in one 
solitary case there has been an exhibition of genuine 
materialization. The one grain of wheat outvalues the 
whole bin-full of chaff, for that grain may, some day, lead 
to an abundant harvest, over the whole earth. 

It will be found, therefore, that in this particular 
instance, as in that of the Chittenden manifestations, I 
will spend very little time in trying to discover whether 
the mediums cheated often or seldom, whether Eliza 
White glided out of the cabinet frequently in Katie's 
costume, and whether the correspondence of Nelson 
Holmes has been tampered with. I assume here, as I 
did in Vermont, that the mediums c.an cheat, that they 
will cheat if necessary, and that they are disposed to 
cheat if the investigator should relax his vigilance for a 
moment. And so presupposing, it would be the sheerest 
waste of time for me to search back through the whole 



A FA TAL DOCUMENT. 445 

American and English career of the Holmeses, to dis- 
cover how often, if ever, they played upon the public 
credulity. 

But what I went to Philadelphia to discover, and what 
I mean to discuss, is whether Eliza White's charge that 
the mediumship of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes was a sham, 
and their materializations a wretched fraud upon the 
credulity of Mr. Owen and hundreds of other honorable 
and earnest persons. 

Our case is now nearly disembarrassed of irrelevant 
features, Dr. Child's certificate to the identity of Eliza 
White and Katie King having been shown to be worthless, 
by reason of his previous self-committal to the contrary 
fact ; and Eliza's own affidavit-narrative being inadmis- 
sible in evidence, by reason of her impeachment by good 
and sufficient witnesses. Both she and her indorser 
being turned out of Court, the whole question of the 
existence of Katie and John King is reopened, and we 
must fall back upon the facts, I have been enabled to 
collect, under my own test conditions, to ascertain 
whether Mr. Owen and General Lippitt ever saw a real 
spirit-form in the Holmes' circle-room. 

If any further proof of the utter worthlessness of Eliza's 
statements concerning the part she pretended to have 
played in the Philadelphia comedy were required, it is 
more than supplied in the following document: 

50 N. 9th St., Philadelphia, Pa., 18 August, 1874. 
Mr. and Mrs. Holms : 

Dear friends : — I will try and get your things shipped by next 
week. I could not see the furniture man to-day but will to-morrow. 
Doctor Childs comes in here with Dr. Paxson, Mrs. Buckwalter, Mr. 
Leslie, Mrs. Childs, and they hold seances and go on just as though 
they owend the house. I don't think Childs is a friend of yours. 
He don't act like it. All the time priying into evrything and all he 
cares for you is to make money off of your mediumship. The man 
that called the other day has called again yesterday. His name is 
Leslie. He said " Mrs. White are you a medium." I told him I 
was. He said I saw your advertisement in the Daily Item last June 
but I colld to-day to ask you if you know anything about the 
Holmesses as everybody says that it is you that is playing Katie 
King. Now you are a poor woman and I can't see why you do it. 
You look a good deal like Katie King and if you know anything and 
will tell me all about it, several gentleman and myself well pay you 
$1000, and stand by you and guarantee to protect you, and we will 



446 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

pay you the money in advance. We want to stop all this spiritual 
business that is going all over the country and we will put the 
Holmesses down if you will only tell me and my friends all you 
know about it. I told him I did not know anything about your 
affairs, that if you were not genuine mediums there was none. I did 
not see how it could be a humbug as the people had tested the matter 
in such a way and had published all over. He said yes I know all 
that, but we think you are the one that plays K. K. and if you will 
tell us we will pay you and stand by you. I told him I could not 
tell anything as I didn't know anything. Soon after a man called 
to see me about the same thing he does business 1210 Market street. 
I think his name is Roberts. He came one night to see your seance 
with a party of young men to tear the cabinet down and catch some- 
body, but they had their trouble for there pains. He is the same 
one that tried to frighten you by sending a lawyer to get his money 
back. He talked a long time but acted very strange. I told him 
same as I did Leslie. Now what does all this mean I wish you 
would come back to this city. I think it would be best for you as I 
don't hear anything talked off but K. K. and the Holmesses. How 
funny that everybody should think that I am the spirit. How 
absurd. But all this causes me great trouble and I don't like it. I 
think I will try and keep the house a month. Mrs. Hannis, who 
lives at 262 Madison Street, will go in with me I will try my hand 
with her a month. Evans is at me all the time to know if I will 
take the house. That $50 you gave me to live on and to take care 
of your things and ship them is all gone, but I guess something will 
turn up to help me out. Your friend Frarfk. Your friend 

Eliza White. 

State of Pennsylvania, ) 
City of Philadelphia. \ 

Nelson Holmes and Jennie Homies 
being duly sworn, severally depose and say that the above is a true 
copy of a letter received by them at Blissfield, Mich., in the month 
of August last, from Mrs. Eliza White, alias Frank Stephens ; that 
they have each of them seen the said White, alias Stephens, write, 
and that the original document of which the above is a copy, is in 
her handwriting, and the handwriting is identical with other letters 
received from the same person. 

And deponents further say that after they returned from the West 
to Philadelphia the said White, alias Stephens, came to see them to 
complain that Dr. Henry T. Child had not paid her for the rent of 
the house No. 50 North 9th St., which deponents occupied before 
going West, but which the said White, alias Stephens, took for one 



TEMPTATION AND TEMPTERS. 447 

month upon her own responsibility, but with some expectation that 
the said Child would see the rent paid if deponents would return to 
the said house ; and the said White, failing to induce deponents to 
agree to refund the said rent, which indeed they were unable to do, 
significantly remarked that a number of gentlemen of wealth, includ- 
ing members of the Young Men's Christian Association, were ready 
to pay her a large sum of money, and she need not trouble them any 
more. 

In testimony whereof the said deponents have hereunto signed 
their names this 25th day of January A. D. 1S75. 

Nelson Holmes. 
Jennie Holmes. 
Sworn and Subscribed, this 25th day of January A. D. 1S75. 

Francis Hood, 

Alderman. 

Here we have our frail Eliza asserting, in a very 
emphatic fashion, in confidential correspondence with 
her ex-lodgers: (1) That she has been tempted by- 
Mr. Leslie in the sum of $1,000, and also by a Mr. 
Roberts to confess that she played Katie King ; (2) 
That she denied to both of them unreservedly that she 
had ever done so, and asseverated the genuine medium- 
ship of the Holmeses, but nevertheless Mr. Leslie 
persisted in his suggestions and offers; (3) That she 
does not understand what this all means, and hopes the 
Holmeses will return to Philadelphia, and thus relieve 
her of all this importunity. When we compare this 
letter of the iSth of August with her letter from North 
Cambridge, Mass., to Dr. Child, repudiating all knowl- 
edge of fraud in the Katie King affair (which she now 
avers was written by Holmes' dictation), we have very 
strong prima facie evidence that her whole story of 
having personated the spirit is false. 

The Mr. Leslie she alludes to is no doubt the per- 
son of that name who finally engineered the expose of 
December 5th, for he was a constant attendant at the 
seances, and no other Mr. Leslie has been mentioned 
in connection with this affair. Mr. Roberts is a 
nephew of Mr. J. M. Roberts, a wealthy gentleman of 
Burlington, N. J., and a staunch friend of the Holmeses 
from first to last. He informed me that his nephew 
had acknowledged to him that an officer of the 
Young Men's Christian Association of Philadelphia, 
called upon him several times last summer, and tried 



448 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

to enlist his services to help break down spiritualism, 
in general and the Holmeses in particular, but that he 
had declined. Moreover, he has recently re-affirmed, 
in a letter to General Lippitt, his denial, and protested 
against his being included among the conspirators. I 
know no more of the facts of the case than appears in 
the documentary evidence, and leave it to the parties 
interested to fight it out among themselves. It cer- 
tainly will strike the public as strange that Eliza White 
should so circumstantially describe the visit and 
importunity of Mr. Roberts, if no such things had 
ever occurred ; and the only possible explanation of the 
mystery must be sought either in the personation of 
Mr. Roberts by some other individual, or a deliberate 
falsehood on the part of Eliza — a falsehood without 
apparent motive. 

In the interest of good morals, it is to be hoped that 
Eliza's hints of the connection of her tempters with the 
Young Men's Christian Association have no warrant 
in fact ; for it would be regarded as an infamous out- 
rage in this day and country, for any religious body 
to resort to bribery and the subornation of perjury, for 
the purpose of crushing out any other religious faith. 

There is still other evidence going to show that 
Eliza was not always, if ever, Katie King, for, on the 
very evening when she was exploding the whole hum- 
bug, by giving a mock-seance to Mr. Leslie, Mr. Owen, 
Doctor Child and another, the things happened that 
are related in the following affidavits : which, but for 
burdening my report with redundant testimony, I 
might have had corroborated by numerous other affida- 
vits to the same effect. 

State of Pennsylvania, ) 
City of Philadelphia. ) 

W. H. Westcott, being duly sworn, 
says that he resides in the city of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania ; 
that on the night of the 5th of December, 1874, he in company with 
some fifteen or twenty persons was present at the residence of Mr. 
and Mrs. Holmes, S25 North Tenth street, where a seance was being 
held ; that between the hours of eight and ten o'clock on said night, 
while Mr. Holmes was in the cabinet, he saw issue from the cabinet 
the spirit-form of what is known to be " Katie King ;" that she first 
came to the aperture, showed her face several times, spoke to the 
audience, was recognized by many of those present, who had seen 
her on several occasions at No. 50 North 9th Street, and afterwards 



DOCTOR FELLGER' S AFFIDA VI T. 449 

she opened the door and stepped out among the audience. This 
she repeated three times during the seance. And deponent says 
that the " Katie King " who appeared on the said evening was the 
identical spirit who had shown herself during the preceding two 
months at the same place through the mediumship of the said Mr. 
and Mrs. Holmes. 

In testimony whereof the deponent has hereunto signed his name 
this 25th day of January, 1875. 

Wm. H. Westcott. 
Affirmed and subscribed, this 25th day of January, A. D. 1875. 

Francis Hood, 

Alderman. 

State of Pennsylvania, ^ 
City of Philadelphia. \ "' 

Adolphus Fellger, M.D., being 

sworn, says that he is a practising physician in the city of Philadel- 
phia and resides at Number 154 North nth Street ; that he has read 
the foregoing affidavit and knows the facts therein stated to be true, 
he having been present at the seance described. And deponent 
further says that he has seen the spirit known as " Katie King " in 
all perhaps eighty times, is perfectly familiar with her features, and 
cannot be mistaken as to the identity of the Katie King who appeared 
upon the evening of December 5th, for, while the said spirit scarcely 
ever appeared of exactly the same height or features two evenings in 
succession, her voice was always the same, and the expression of her 
eyes and the topics of her conversation enabled him to be still more 
certain of her being the same person. 

Ad. Fellger, M.D. 
Sworn and subscribed before me this 25th day of January, 1S75. 

Wm. P. Hibberd, 

Alderman. 

Doctor Adolf Fellger, who signs one of these affida- 
vits, is well-known and widely respected as a physician 
in Philadelphia. He is beloved by all who have been 
so fortunate as to make his acquaintance. Mr. Owen 
describes him, in his letter to me of December 28th, as 
" a popular and highly esteemed German physician of 
this city," (Philadelphia), and his simple word would 
outweigh a score of affidavits of your Eliza Whites. 

Again, I have before me sundry letters written by 
Mr. Holmes to Eliza White and Doctor Child from 
Michigan, which speak of Katie King's having appeared 
in their circles out there. On the 25th of August he 
writes to Dr. Child that they held a seance on the 21st, 



450 THE KATIE KING AFFAIR. 

at which " Katie came and showed herself splendid," 
while on the 28th he writes to Mrs. White instructions 
about packing and shipping his furniture from Phila- 
delphia. Clearly Mrs. White could not be in the latter 
city occupying the house, and in Michigan playing the 
part of Katie King at one and the same time. On 
September 4th, he writes to Child, that " K. K. comes 
to us better than ever, but seems troubled about some- 
thing that we can't find out. What does she tell you ? " 
And Eliza does not pretend, in her affidavit to have 
gone West before the 12th of September. Who, then, 
was personating Katie before her arrival? 

The occurrence of the phenomena in Blissfield, while 
Eliza was still in Philadelphia is, furthermore, attested 
by Doctor Child himself in a letter of Oct to the 
Religio-Philosophical Journal, of Chicago, and in this 
same letter he speaks of knowing the woman, and being 
able to declare that she was not Katie King. 

It does seem as if there never was so tangled a skein 
as this to unravel. 

In fact, when I review the whole of the evidence in 
this case — the assertions and counter assertions of 
Eliza; the contradictions of all her material statements 
by the Holmeses, and their plausible explanations of 
the suspicious sentences in Mr. Holmes' letters to her; 
the circumstantially minute descriptions given by Mr. 
Owen of things seen by him, which no theory of 
personation by Eliza, or any other mortal explains ; 
the added testimony of General Lippitt; the recent 
confession of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes to General Lippitt, 
that Doctor Child procured Mrs. White to stand for 
the photograph of Katie sold by him ; the fact that this 
picture bears no resemblance to a portrait of Eliza in 
my possession, which was taken after the " Katie photo- 
graph ; " the rash certificate of Doctor Child as to the 
identity of Eliza and Katie, after the fatal statements 
in his pamphlet, and his astonishing self-contradictions 
in his newspaper contributions — when I consider all 
these, I confess that I am completely unable to decide 
whether there ever was such a thing as a false persona- 
tion of the spirit at all. Like the Comte de Gabalis, I 
am tempted to say; "In short I could make neither 
head nor tail on't." Nothing but a full confession 
by the Holmeses to the fact, backed by corroborative 
proof, will throw light upon the foggy subject. Their 



45 2 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

unsupported assertion would not alone suffice to con- 
vict them, for we have all seen enough of mediums and 
mediumship to know that "lying spirits" may just as 
well now, as in Bible times, (See I Kings xxii, 19 to 
23) control mediums, perhaps even to the denying of 
crimes they have committed, and the confessing to 
others of which they are wholly innocent. 

Look at this very matter of the photograph. General 
Lippitt tells us in the Banner of Light, of February 6th 
instant, that the Holmeses confessed to him, on the 31st 
of January, that Eliza stood for the Katie pictures. Well, 
let the reader judge for himself whether this is so or not. 
Here we have a copy of that photograph, and, beside it, 
one given to me as a portrait of Eliza, and alleged to have 
been taken since the other was published by Dr. Child : 

Do they look alike ? Is there any resemblance between 
the two faces in the breadth of jaw-bone, prominence of 
cheek-bone, shape and length of nose, curve of nostril, 
length of lower jaw, or shape of head — in a word, in 
either of those salient features of a head and face which 
emaciation does not alter? If I had been permitted to 
see the shrinking affiant, I might better judge of the 
fidelity of the two portraits, or either, to the original. As 
it is, I can only say that the one which the public will 
now see for the first time, was given to me by one who has 
the best of reasons for knowing whether it is good or not, 
and who assures me that it is the woman herself. It was 
also identified by the Chief of Police, Mr. Sage, and by 
other citizens of Winsted. 

The best we can do, under the circumstances, is to put 
the whole batch of contradictory testimony about this 
entire case in a pigeon-hole, and escape out of this 
quagmire of doubt upon the solid ground of fact, as 
demonstrated by the experiments and investigations to 
which I will now ask the reader's attention. 

I reached Philadelphia, as before observed, on the 4th 
of January, and called upon Mr. Leslie, Doctor Child, 
Mr. Owen, Dr. Fellger and others. I took rooms at 
the private hotel of Mrs. Martin, in Girard Street, where 
our friend Madame de Blavatsky, was also quartered. 
My acquaintance with Mme. de B., begun under such 
interesting circumstances at Chittenden, has continued, 
and recently become more intimate in consequence of 
her having accepted the offer of M. Aksakow the eminent 
St. Petersburgh publisher, former tutor to the Czarowitch, 



A REMARKABLE LADY. 453 

to translate my Chittenden letters into the Russian 
language for republication in the capital of the Czar. 

I gradually discovered that this lady, Avhose brilliant 
accomplishments and eminent virtues of character, no 
ltss than her exalted social position, entitle her to the 
highest respect, is one of the most remarkable mediums 
in the world"."/ At the same time, her mediumship is 
totally different from that of any other person I ever met ; 
for, instead of being controlled by spirits to do their will, 
it is she who seems to control them to do her bidding. 
Whatever may be the secret by which this power 
has been attained, I cannot say, but that she possesses it, 
I have had too many proofs to permit me to doubt the 
fact. Many years of her life have been passed in 
Oriental lands, where what we recognize as Spiritualism, 
has for years been regarded as the mere rudimental 
developments of a system which seems to have established 
such relations between mortals and the immortals as to 
enable certain of the former to have dominion over 
many of the latter. I pass by such of the mysteries of 
the Egyptian, Hindoo and other priestly orders, as 
may be ascribed to a knowledge of the natural sciences, 
and refer to those higher branches of that so-called 
White Magic, which has been practised for countless 
centuries by the initiated. 

Whether Mme. de B. has been admitted behind the 
veil or not can only be surmised, for she is very reticent 
upon the subject, but her startling gifts seem impossible 
of explanation upon any other hypothesis. She wears 
upon her bosom the mystic jeweled emblem of an 
Eastern Brotherhood, and is probably the only repre- 
sentative in this country of this fraternity, "who, (as 
Bulwer remarks,) "in an earlier age boasted of secrets of 
which the Philosopher's Stone was but the least ; who con- 
sidered themselves the heirs of all that the Chaldeans, the 
Magi, the Gymnosophists, and the Platonists had taught ; 
and who differed from all the darker sons of Magic in 
the virtue of their lives, the purity of their doctrines and 
their insisting, as the foundation of all wisdom, on the 
subjugation of the senses, and the intensity of Religious 
Faith." 

After knowing this remarkable lady, and seeing the 
wonders that occur in her presence so constantly that 
they actually excited at length but a passing emotion of 
surprise, I am almost tempted to believe that the stories 



454 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

of Eastern fables are but simple narratives of fact; and 
that this very American outbreak of spiritualistic phenom- 
ena is under the control of an Order, which while depend- 
ing for its results upon unseen agents, has its existence 
upon Earth among men. 

The occurrence of the phenomena I am about to 
describe is calculated to arouse the deepest interest 
in the mind of every student in Psychology. They rob 
the episode of the buckle brought from the Russian 
General's grave to his daughter in Chittenden of the 
greater part of its appearance of improbability; and, taken 
in connection with the Compton mysteries, described 
in their appropriate place in this Part II, indicate that 
we are doing no violence to our sagacity to expect that 
before long we may witness in our American "circles" 
'phases of " manifestations " worthy to be classed with 
the ancient and modern mysteries of the countries of 
the Orient. 

The first evening I spent in Philadelphia, I had a very 
long conversation through rappings with what purported 
to be the spirit who calls himself " John King." Who- 
ever this person may be, whether he was the Buccaneer 
Morgan or Pontius Pilate, Columbus or Zoroaster, he has 
been the busiest and most powerful spirit, or what you 
please to call it, connected with this whole Modern 
Spiritualism. In this country and Europe we read of his 
physical feats, his audible speaking, his legerdemain, his 
direct writing, his materializations. He was with the 
Koons family in Ohio, the Davenports in N. Y., the 
Williams in London, and the mediums in France and 
Germany. Mme. de B. encountered him fourteen years 
ago in Russia and Circassia, talked with and saw him in 
Egypt and India, I met him in London, in 1870, and he 
seems able to converse in any language with equal ease. 
I have talked with him in English, French, German, 
Spanish, and Latin, and have heard others do the same 
in Greek, Russian, Italian, Georgian, (Caucasus) and 
Turkish ; his replies being always pertinent and satis- 
factory. His rap is peculiar and easily recognizable 
from others — a loud, sharp, crackling report. He objects 
to the application of tests, but after refusing them, will, 
at the most unexpected times, give such as are much 
more startling and conclusive than the ones proposed. 
He has done this with me, not once merely but dozens of 
times ; and, really it became the most difficult thing in 



JOHN KING ' S 1)1 SCL OS U&ES. 455 

the world for me to hesitate a moment longer in giving 
up all reserve and acknowledging myself a Spiritualist 
pur sang. 

I went to Philadelphia without a theory as to the 
Holmes imbroglio ; the newspaper accounts had been so 
confusing that I dismissed the whole subject from my 
mind, and determined to start at the very bottom and 
build up my belief by degrees. But at my first interview 
with " John King," he rapped out the whole secret history 
of the affair, telling me the parties concerned in the 
pretended exposure, their names, the agents they em- 
ployed, the sums of money subscribed, who carried the 
purse, who disbursed the funds, and who received the 
spoils. I was amazed beyond description, for the infor- 
mation given was the farthest possible from what seemed 
credible. 

But each day's developments proved it more and more 
true, and if I could only have afforded to wait, I have 
little doubt but that documentary and parole evidence 
would have been forthcoming to substantiate the whole 
story! As it is, however, I will have to leave it only half 
told, for the bloody experience of 1692 stands as a warn- 
ing for all time against relying wholly upon " spectre 
testimony." 

It will be readily imagined that I early demanded of 
the supposed spirit some evidence of his supersensual 
existence. On the evening of the 6th, I said to him : 
" If you are in reality a spirit, as you pretend, give me 
some exhibition of your power. Make for me, for example, 

a copy of the last note from Eliza White to Mr. that 

I have in the portfolio in my pocket." He made no 
reply, but rattled on about other matters, and did not 
recur to the subject that evening. On the evening of 
the 8th, however, as we were sitting by the table, Mme. 
de B. writing and I reading, John rapped loudly for 
the alphabet, and spelt out, " Hand me your dictionary, 
under the table, will you ?" Mme. de B. did as requested. 
"The mucilage." She handed the bottle down. "Your 
penknife." She passed that down also. All was quiet 
for a moment, when he rapped that we should look. We 
took up the dictionary and lo ! upon a fly-leaf in the 
back part, we found an exact copy of the note I had 
referred to two evenings before. The portfolio in which 
I carried it, with other documents relating to the case, I 
had taken out of my pocket a half-hour before, and laid 

16 



456 THE KATIE KING AFFAIR. 

upon the mantel-shelf. With this exception, it had not 
been out^of my possession, and the whole time it lay on 
the mantel, it was under my eye and I sat within a few 
feet of it. It was impossible, therefore, for any trickster 
to have secretly transferred a duplicate to my friend's 
dictionary. 

I crossed over, got the paper, and compared it, and 
here we have the two in fac-simile. 

By placing the one over the other, I found that the 
duplicate was not a tracing, for, while the two fitted 
in certain places, they would not in others, and there 
were just such differences in the formation of the letters 
as showed that the duplicate might have been written 
by the same person as the other, but at a different time. 

The reader will observe the very quaint writing in the 
foot-note of the duplicate, signed " J. K." This is 
supposed to be John's own autograph, and another 
example of it will be found on the communication of 
Katie King to myself. 

It will be imagined that I awaited the fulfillment of his 
promise the next evening with great interest, not to say 
anxiety, but I said nothing for fear His Worship might 
be induced to postpone the matter indefinitely. Mme. 
de. B. and I were alone this time, occupied as before, 
when suddenly at John's demand, expressed through rap- 
pings, she took a sheet of Bristol-board drawing-paper, 
and showing me that both sides were perfectly clean, 
threw it under the table. I glanced under the cloth to 
see that there was nothing there but the one piece of 
paper, which was easily recognizable by its size and 
shape. John rapped that I should look at my watch, and 
note how long it took him to perform the experiment. 

Madame de B. went on with her writing, and no sound 
was heard but the scratching of her pen and the ticking 
of my watch. When 30 seconds had elapsed John 
rapped " Done," and upon going beneath the table, and 
seeing the paper, I made an exclamation of disappoint- 
ment, for the upper surface was blank. But as I lifted 
the sheet from the floor I saw, upon the face that had 
lain next to the carpet, a second copy of the same 
document. 

The difference in the formation of the letters between 
the original and duplicate is not nearly so marked as 
those between this triplicate and the original. Mr. 
Betanelly came in at this moment and we compared 



D U PLICA TE LE TTER S. 45 7 

0<s 









THE ORIGINAL NOTE. 



ao r&~ <&y*> yjc^. *&*»ty ^n^^ui 

I y/i ll try c iru>^ a li^r fonwrtf vtf 

7 J/< 



THE FIRST COPY. 



45 S THE KA TIB KING AFFAI8. 

the writings with the greatest care, only to be more 
and more astounded at this fresh exhibition of the 
power of our invisible ally. Now let the reader turn 



^*K-£P£fefr 



Ghx 



yM* 



*. %***. &y*. X_JlL^ cJw~<£i <&n^V<&£ 




THE BRISTOL-BOARD COPY. 

to the story of the visit of the two Egyptian gentlemen 
to the old Sheikh, on page 414, and then to the fac- 
similes of the writings done for me by the spirits at 
Chittenden (which look so suspiciously like Horatio 
Eddy's autograph,) and decide whether the mere fact 
of such resemblances as all these, would be any proof 
positive that a medium had been committing fraud if 
he should give us communications in handwriting very 
much like his own. 

The portfolio containing Eliza White's Katie-King- 
pote and John's first duplicate was this time in my 
coat-pocket, where it had been constantly since the 
preceding evening. John broke in upon our expressions 
of surprise by rapping out : " Do you folks want me 
to commit forgery for you ? I can bring you here the 
blank check of any National Bank, and sign upon it the 
name of any President, Cashier or other official." I 
thanked His Invisible Highness kindly and declined the 



A PHILADELPHIA PROPHETESS. 



459 



favor, upon the sufficient ground that the Police did not 
believe in Spiritualism, and I did not care to risk the 
chance of convincing them in case the forged papers 
should be found in my possession. 

I devoted an idle hour this same day to an interview 
with a very remarkable " impressible medium," named 
Miss Annie M. Bulwer, to whom I was recommended by 
Mr. Owen and Dr. Child. I went to her a perfect 
stranger, declined to give my name, and nevertheless, 
was more interested by what she told me than by anything 
I ever got. in the same length of time from a person of her 
class. She told me my name, described the business 
upon which I had come to Philadelphia, spoke of the 
probable result (which, I may say, has been in great 
measure verified), and favored me with sundry prophecies, 
two of which I record as a matter of curiosity. Among 
.other things she said that I would be invited to England 
before long, to act with Messrs. Wallace, Crookes, and 
Varley in an important matter connected with Spiritual- 
ism, to arise in the future ; and that my present book 
would be translated into Russian, German, Polish, and 
other languages. Part of her prediction is already in a 
fair way of being verified, for the Russian translation is 
almost finished, and I am informed that the work is to be 
republished in German, at Leipsic. I pray the reader's 
indulgence for this digression, but so few prophecies from 
these mediums are placed upon record in advance, that I 
thought there would be no harm in breaking through the 
rule 

Mrs. Holmes returned from Vineland on the nth, and 
that evening I attended for the first time a seance at her 
house. There were present fifteen persons- The first 
thing in order was a " dark seance," which I will not 
particularly dwell upon, as I afterwards had the oppor- 
tunity ot holding one in my own rooms, under test 
conditions, and will allude to it in its proper place. 

I found the cabinet a triangular, bottomless box, 
standing in the corner of the room before a window, just 
as described in Eliza White's story in the papers ; but I 
made no remark about it or any of the arrangements that 
evening, as I wished to see how things were done. 
Mrs. Holmes, of course, occupied the cabinet alone, her 
husband being in the country. She went in and sat upon 
a chair, closed and bolted the door from the inside, and 
somebody outside started a large music-box to playing. 






460 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

In a few minutes the short, black curtain behind one of 
the apertures was drawn aside, and a man's head 
appeared, as if floating in the air. It was ghastly pale, a 
heavy black beard and moustache increasing the unnatural 
pallor by contrast.. I went up to the aperture, leaned my 
arm upon the bracket-shelf beneath it, and gazed into 
the face, which was not twelve inches from me. A 
more dreadful sight I had never beheld. The lower 
portions, including the wavy silky beard, were perfectly 
formed, as, also was the brow ; but the eyes were not 
materialized, and the cavities they should have filled 
were edged with ragged rims, as though the face had 
been made of wax and the eyes melted out by the 
application of a red-hot iron. To see the thing floating 
in the air as buoyantly as a cork in water, arid then gaze 
at the orbless sockets, was calculated to test weak nerves 
to the fullest extent. "Well/' I said to the head, "you 
are a handsome young man, and no mistake ! Do you 
think any damsel of taste would fall in love with such a 
face as that ? " The lips smiled, and the head wagged 
from side to side to' mark dissent. I asked many ques- 
tions, and was answered by nods and shakes, to signify 
"Yes" and "No." A well-formed masculine hand, 
matching in color the ghastly face, came up and stroked 
the beard, and motioned to me to do likewise. I passed 
my hand inside, and felt the beard, and found it soft, silky, 
and as warm in temperature as my own. But I was not 
satisfied with the seance, for the medium was not under 
test conditions, and the cabinet stood where it did during 
the time when Eliza White's pretended comedy was 
being enacted. Moreover, I was not satisfied with the 
movements of the head — they were too stiff and con- 
strained, and made me think I had possibly been looking 
at a cleverly made mask, or inflated rubber head, although 
I had never seen its like before. 

The next morning I procured some stout unbleached 
sheeting, and had a capacious bag made with a draw- 
string at its mouth, It was large enough to take in 
Mrs. Holmes up to her neck, leaving her room enough 
to be comfortable. I also went to the house, and 
myself moved the cabinet from its place in the corner 
to the other side of the room, against a dead-wall. 
Around its two sides mosquito netting was tacked to 
prevent any possible admission of a confederate, through 



THE HOLMES CABINET. 



461 



a movable panel. With a screw- driver I carefully 
tested every screw, and found that instead of any one 
or two being looser than the rest, (and so corroborating 
Eliza's story that she had screwed and unscrewed 
them at every seance) each was as solid in the wood as 
every other one. I found that Mrs. Holmes measured 
5 feet 3 inches in height, while the lower edge of the 
aperture was 5 feet 5 inches from the floor. When she 
stood upon tip-toe, the top of her head was just visible 
from the outside, through the aperture. 

Here we have a front-view and ground-plan of the 
cabinet. It is made of imitation black-walnut, orna- 




mented in front with mouldings and panels The two 
sides of the triangle are of matched pine boards, but 
the furnace heat has shrunken them so that in p aces 
the tongues have slipped out of the grooves, and light 
can be seen through the cracks. The sketch shows 
the mosquito-netting tacked around the sides : 

Tust as Mrs. Holmes was ready to enter the cabinet, 
I stopped her and said that as she had consented to 
submit to test conditions, I should now begin to apply 
them, with her permission. She assented ; whereupon 
I produced the bag, and she got into it. I secured 
myself effectually I believed, against fraud by drawing 



462 



THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 



the mouth around her neck, just tight enough to 
admit of her breathing, without its choking her. I 
then sealed the string, close up, with sealing-wax, and 




stamped it with my ring. Finally, I removed the chair 
from the cabinet, and left her to stand up. 

I pushed the door to, and it was i?7imediately bolted on 
the inside, the light was made very dim, and we awaited 
results. In less than three minutes, a white hand 
appeared at one of the apertures. It had no rings 
upon the fingers; Mrs. Holmes had several on hers. 
Her hand moreover, is of a very peculiar shape, its 
outlines being full of curves, and the fingers long and 
bony, with the phalanges strongly defined. The hand 
shown was plump, well-shaped and large. 

Then, after a few minutes there came into view a 
partially materialized female face, much worse to look 
upon than the male one of the preceding evening. I 
could not think of anything to compare it with except 
the face of a corpse, half eaten by rats or crabs. It was 
framed in a drapery of white muslin stuff, and, like the 
other, floated in the air, swimming towards the aperture 



GHA STL Y FA CES. 463 

now from one side, and now from the other, or rising 
from below ; then remaining stationary for a moment 
or so, it gazed at us in a stiff, blank way, with its eye- 
less sockets, and its half-formed features, until it was 
enough to make one's flesh creep to look at it. But I 
went up, stared at it and talked with it by means of its 
nods and shakes, until it was able to tell me that it 
was the head of Katie King, herself, badly materialized. 

Its peculiarities, aside from the dreadful ragged- 
ness of" its half made-up features, were a preternatural 
narrowness of chin and forehead, and a marked red- 
ness of lips, as though they were stained with vermilion. 
I doubt if ever a late supper conjured a worse vision 
out of the realm of dreams to affright the dyspeptic 
withal, than this one; but it was in a measure, more 
satisfactory than a perfect visage would have been, for, 
the medium being helplessly confined within the bag, 
and no possibility of confederacy existing, it seemed 
to show that the face was neither that of a human being, 
nor yet a mask, for such masks are never made. It 
came several times within sight, and then disappeared 
for the evening. 

Upon entering Mme. de B.'s rooms this evening, I 
found several ladies and gentlemen waiting to be 
introduced to me, and they were amusing themselves 
with some "mind-reading" tests given by a boy 
medium named DeWitt C. Hough. One gentleman 
mentally requested that an affirmative answer to his 
mental question should be indicated, by the lad's lead- 
ing him across the room and placing his, (the gentle- 
man's) hand upon a portrait of " John King," in a glazed 
frame, that hung upon the wall. This was done, when 
to our surprise it was found that the glass over the 
little picture had disappeared, although it had been 
noticed in its usual place the same day. This glass 
was not restored until nearly a week had elapsed, when, 
one evening, John rapped that he wanted a very small 
piece of white paper passed under the table, and pres- 
ently said that he had brought the glass back again. 
Sure enough, there it was, with the small strip of 
paper gummed on it, and a line in John's handwriting 
to the effect that he had had it away with him. 

In entering this circumstance in my note-book, I 
appended, by way of pleasantry, the slang expression 
16* 



464 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

" Bully for John ! " It will be seen further on how he 
returned the compliment. 

The next morning, the 13th, Mr. Owen, Mr. Betanelly 
and I went to Mrs. Holmes' house without pre-announce- 
ment to hold a private seance. The windows were 
darkened, Mrs. Holmes was put into the bag, which was 
sealed as before, and the chair was removed. In 70 
seconds from the time the door was closed, a hand was 
shown at the aperture. I approached the window, and 
laying my hand upon the sill, it was patted by a detached 
hand, which I found soft, plump, warm and moist. My 
hand was then gently pulled down inside the cabinet and 
pressed between two hands and caressed. I asked that 
I might be allowed to feel the two thumbs at once, and 
upon opening my hand the two thumbs were laid between 
my thumb and forefinger, and I pressed them. Mr. 
Owen's hand was then pressed and caressed. Passing 
my hand within again I felt and stroked the man's beard, 
as on the former occasion, and afterwards the turbaned 
top of a head was raised just up to the aperture, but the 
face was not shown. Finally, all three of us laid a hand 
each upon the sill, and each was patted by turns. 

These were all of the materializations of the seance, 
but just before its close a whispering voice addressed me 
in German from within the cabinet, giving me the name 
"Katrina Gobe," and saying that she had died some 
years before, in Philadelphia. Mrs. Holmes is said to be 
unacquainted with any language but English. 

John King showed himself very clearly at the evening 
seance, coming as many as twenty times in sight, and 
allowing a number of people to approach him and shake 
hands or stroke his beard. I stood at the aperture as 
long as I chose. His eyes were perfectly formed to-night, 
and moved about, and winked in a very natural manner. 
He smiled at me, shook hands, and talked quite at length. 
I requested him to float his head up so high that every 
one could see that it was not possible for Mrs. Holmes 
either to be wearing a mask, or holding one up ; where- 
upon he rose to the extreme top of the window and 
thrust his head outside, at an elevation of 6 feet 7 inches 
from the floor. 

One of the perplexing features of the Katie King affair 
was the supposed resemblance between the manuscript of 
Eliza White and that of the notes given by " Katie " to 
Mr. Robert Dale Owen, Dr. Fellger and others, at the 



L 



PRIVATE SEANCE FOR TESTS. 465 

Holmes seances. I determined to attempt at least the 
procurement of a communication to myself from Katie ; 
and so, thinking the moment propitious, I asked if Katie 
would favor me. The answer came in a whisper : " I'll 
do it, Colonel, if I can get power enough. 5 ' I then passed 
through the aperture a sheet of note-paper that I had 
purchased on my way from my lodgings, and that was 
marked in a way to effectually prevent their palming off 
upon me a prepared communication, upon another sheet, 
as Eliza White avers Mr. Owen was deceived in the 
matter of the Fred. W. Robertson writing. Whatever 
became of my paper, it disappeared, for, as soon as the 
seance was over, I searched thoroughly all about and no 
trace of it could be found. 

The next day at 2.30 p. m., I had a seance at my own 
rooms. A cabinet was improvised out of the short square 
passage between the sitting and bed-room, and a curtain 
of black paper-muslin, with two windows cut in it, and 
short curtains hanging over them inside, so as to be 
raised or dropped at will, was tacked over the sitting- 
room door. 

Those present upon this occasion were Mme. de Bla- 
vatsky, Hon. Robert Dale Owen, Dr. Fellger, Mr. 
Betanelly, the medium Mrs. Holmes, and myself. The 
rear door of the passage was sealed by Mr. Owen with 
strips of thin paper, after Mrs. Holmes had been sealed 
up in the bag. Mr. Owen also locked the bed-room door 
leading into the passage, and put the key into his pocket. 
We then darkened the room and took our places close 
to the curtain. In half a minute hands were shown, and, 
almost immediately John King's face appeared and was 
thrust quite through the aperture. He was perfectly 
materialized, and came as near being a handsome man as 
he ever did, I presume, and that is quite near. 

A voice, supposed to be Katie's, spoke to us, and 
calling up Mr. Owen and myself, she, or, at all events, a 
female hand patted our hands. I asked if she had 
written the communication to me yet, but she said she 
had not. I then requested that she would hand me the 
paper so that I might show it to Mr. Owen. In a moment 
it was thrust through the aperture, and Mr. Owen exam- 
ining it by the light, found no writing except what I had 
written in French in the middle of the page. I passed 
the paper back, and it was taken from my hand. 

John King allowed Mr. Owen to feel his hand and 



466 



THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 



beard, and, altogether, the manifestations were quite as 
satisfactory if not more so than any I had thus far seen 
at Mrs. Holmes' house. They proved beyond question 
the fact that, whatever they may be, they depend for 
their production neither upon false panels, nor trap- 
doors, nor wire machinery. The seance terminated 
about 5 o'clock. 

The public seance was held at 825 North Tenth 
Street, at 8 p.m., as usual. A gentleman present sug- 
gested that I should tie Mrs. Holmes' hands together 
before putting her into the bag, and I did so ; but, to 
tell the truth, I thought the precaution so unnecessary 
that the tying was a mere pretence. I considered it 
perfectly impossible for her to get her hands outside 
the bag to iise any masks, even if she had such con- 
cealed about her. 

John King appeared as usual and allowed six or 
seven persons, beside myself, to approach and converse 
with him or shake hands. As I saw his head floating 
free in the air within a few inches of my eyes, I recalled 
Eliza's assertion that the faces were ten-cent masks 
manipulated by the medium, and the idea occurred to 
ask permission to satisfy myself in the most conclusive 
way that I was not looking at a mechanical contrivance. 
John assenting, I then put my arm in, and swept the air 
in a semi-circle beneath his head, coming into contact 
with neither stick, nor wire, nor medium's arm. The 
drooping ends of his white turban dragged over my 
hand as I withdrew it. I then requested him to depress 
his head, and passed my arm in like manner as before, 
completely over his head, thus finding that it was not 
suspended from above by string or wire. 

I handed John my signet-ring and asked him to hold 




it for a moment so that I might hereafter have it as a 
souvenir of the evening's parley. One of the ladies 
handed him her ring also, for the same purpose. He 
soon returned the second ring, but said he should keep 



KA TIE ' S LE TTERS. 467 

mine, which I must say I did not fancy, as it was an 
expensive intaglio, and I was not in the mood of making 
presents to detached heads and hands. Before releasing 
Mrs. Holmes from the bag at the close of the seance, I 
searched the cabinet in every part, but my ring was 
gone. 

The voice of Katie called me up to the cabinet after 
I had resumed my seat, and a hand passed out to me 
the sheet of paper I had handled a few hours before. 
The previously blank surface was now covered with two 
communications to me, in a handwriting which seems 
to be identical with the Katie King notes of last 
summer, addressed to Dr. Fellger and Mr. Owen, here 
given. Let the reader judge for himself: 




d 



eX_ 



£s4AS^. A>t^t T* 



3-^ **V &JZ *%*£, 





468 



THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 



xJd&CCK/ Ycd*^ $-&&*" 



TZ 



am, 



d yteX* 



J$ Ua^M >^y 



<r 



COyy^ 









Compare the handwriting of these with that of the 
paper received by me from " Katie," here given. That 
in the center square is my own. 






^/A^^-^-£^&& 0*%t-&$ $L 




a*JLi 



/gAJJ , u**, j/*^%Z£ 



%ulU foryw- Wua-ffrfDv do wdK^ ifsgwi&fc 



Such of the persons present as witnessed the delivery 
of the paper to me then signed a certificate at my 
request, and the seance was brought to a close. 



THE WIRE-CAGE TEST. 469 

A fresh surprise was in store for me that night, for 
when I was about retiring, I turned down the pillow to 
put my watch beneath it, and there lay my ring uninjured. 
Its weight is 7^- pennyweights, and the distance it had 
been transported was perhaps three-fourths of a mile. 

On Monday evening, January 19th, I returned from 
a short visit to Hartford, and attended the seance at 
the usual place. Mr. Holmes and his wife were both 
present this evening, the former having recovered 
sufficiently from his hemorrhages to bear traveling. 
Mrs. Holmes went inside this evening, and her husband 
sat outside. I placed a guitar inside the cabinet. 
Instantly after I closed the door, a hand was shown at 
the aperture. The guitar was played upon, floated 
about, bumping against the sides and roof of the cabi- 
net, and was violently thrust through the aperture. 
,The face of John King was shown, but none other, and 
nothing unusual occurred, except a violent altercation 
between some visitors and the Holmeses, as to whether 
it was possible for the former to pass their hands 
through the neck of the bag. 

I determined that there should be no longer any 
doubt upon this subject, so the next evening I took 
special care in sealing the bag. I closed the mouth very 
tight and sealed the strings with wax to a silver coin 
in such a way that any attempt to open or loosen the 
mouth would break the wax. I had a friend present, 
an eminent inventor, who made a thorough examina- 
tion of the bag and pronounced it impossible for any 
trickery to be resorted to. I also caused Mrs. Holmes 
to drop her arms by her side, and then pinned her 
sleeves to the bag in such a way that she could 
not raise her hands more than four inches from the 
perpendicular. 

I had caused to be attached to the left-hand aperture, 
at the inside, a cage or basket of wire-cloth, with an 
arched crown and flat bottom ; intending to have the 
faces or hands show themselves within it, if possible. 

Before closing the cabinet-door I requested that the 
bolt should be "thrown back instantly after being shot, 
so that I might see if Mrs. Holmes were moving from 
her position in the apex of the triangular box. This 
was done. I stood ready with hand upon the latch, and 
the moment the bolt was drawn I 'pulled the door open, 
and the medium was standing motionless in her bag. 



470 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

Two guitars placed inside were now played upon 
simultaneously, and pushed out of the right-hand 
aperture. Within one minute a hand was shown at 
the same window. Then the curtain over the other 
aperture, and within the cage, was drawn aside. How? 
A hand was then shown there, so that all of the thirty 
persons present saw it. 

Then John King appeared at the right window fre- 
quently, and sundry persons, including General Lippitt, 
(who was present for the first time to begin an investi- 
gation of the Holmes affair,) my friend the inventor, 
and others. 

The wire-basket appearing to be too small to permit 
of the perfect formation of a head within it, I had the 
mechanics enlarge it the next day, by removing the flat 
bottom and carrying the sides down to the floor. I 
also had it permanently attached to the face of the 
cabinet by staples and wire ties that passed through 
the boards and were twisted and cut off on the front 
face. Here are the certificates of the workmen : 

Philadelphia, Jan. 19th, 1875. 

This is to certify that we have attached to the left-hand aperture 
of the cabinet in the parlor of 825 North Tenth Street, in this city, 
a wire basket with a flat bottom and curved sides and crown, the 
meshes of which are at a distance of 1-3 inch apart, or what is 
known in the trade as " No. 3 wire-cloth ; " that the said basket is 
permanently attached to the said cabinet by staples ; and that it 
would be impossible for any person to introduce a hand, face, or any 
other thing of greater diameter than one-third of an inch, within 
the said basket, without removing it by drawing the staples out of 
the wood. W. L. Wilson, Wm. H. Fennell, 

With J. P. Fennell, Wire Worker, No. 36 N. 6th St. 
Philadelphia, Jan. 20th, 1875. 

I hereby certify that the above described wire-cage was this day 
altered by removing the bottom sheet, and extending the sides con- 
tinuously down to the floor, making the whole height of the cage 
from floor to crown 7 feet 9 inches. In my opinion it is impossible 
to introduce a hand or head within the said cage without taking it 
apart. The two edges of the wire-cloth sheets are now permanently 
attached to the inner front face of the cabinet by staples driven 
home, and tie-wires passing clear through the boards and tied on 
the outer face of the same. James P. Fennell, 

Wire Worker, 36 N. 6th St., Phil. 



*A JUGGLER'S OPINION." 



471 




The cut affords a very good idea of the form, dimen- 
sions, and penetrability of the cage. 

We held a seance at 5 p.m., but it was 
very unsatisfactory to me, as, relying 
upon the cage, I put neither Mrs. Holmes 
nor her husband in the bag, and both 
were inside the cabinet at the same time. 
I fancied I heard them working at my 
wire cage as if trying to effect an open- 
ing, but they did not succeed, and beyond 
the drawing of the curtain aside, noth- 
ing occurred at that aperture. At the 
other John King showed himself, and 
also a female face, purporting to be 
Katie's, but not satisfactorily identified. 

At the evening seance, a hand and 
arm appeared within the basket, and 
swept across the window and back. 
John King's head also appeared there, 
rising from below and dropping again. 
It was not satisfactory, however, for I 
could not understand why, if it were 
genuine it might not stay as long and 
show itself as freely there as at the other 
window. I had a very clever juggler 
with me this evening, one who is famous 
as a maker of mechanical tricks for jugglers. He was 
introduced to me by Mr. Coleman Sellers, the distin- 
guished engineer, President of the Franklin Institute, 
and the correspondent mentioned by Mr. Crookes, in 
one of his pamphlets, as an ingrained skeptic. Mr. 
Harding, the amateur juggler, thought, upon examin- 
ing the wire-cage after the seance, that there was one 
spot sufficiently unconfined by the staples to permit of 
squeezing a hand through and manipulating a mask, 
so the next day I had this attended to. 

At the seance in question two faces were shown at 
the right aperture — John King's and another. The 
former 3 looked natural, and by drawing the curtain 
aside and peering in, I saw, at one and the same time, 
John's head high up to the left, behind the door, and 
Mr. Holmes sitting in the chair before me. John's 
head was, therefore, not a mask worn by Holmes. 

On the 21st, I had a long consultation with another 
juo-gler of acknowledged skill and also a dealer in 



THE WIRE CAGB. 



472 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

jugglers' apparatus, Mr. Yost by name, who explained 
to me the manner in which he fancied that Mrs. Holmes 
got her hands out of the bag, to work artificial faces. 
It is to make a slight rip or cut in the hem covering 
the draw-string, and then draw enough slack string 
through inside to enable her to slip out either her 
hands, or her whole bust if she chooses. This plan 
requires that she shall have one hand free while the 
bag is being sealed, so that she can pull on the slack, 
and make me believe I am sealing up the mouth 
effectually and tightly. The explanation did not seem 
satisfactory, but I determined that no such trick should 
be played upon me from that time forward, at any 
rate. 

We held a test seance at 4 o'clock that day, at which, 
among others, Mr. Owen and General Lippitt were 
present. 

At my last interview with John King, at Mme. de 
B.'s rooms, I requested him to give me a private sign 
when I should next see him at Holmes', and he con- 
sented. He came to the aperture at this afternoon 
seance, and looking at me, he gave the sign by turning 
his head from left to right and back again twice in 
succession. He also gave to Mme. de B. a certain 
sign known only to themselves. 

A detached hand was shown inside the cage, and 
then we tried a very interesting test. Premising by 
saying that Mr. Holmes, like his wife, is unacquainted 
with any foreign language, I fancy the reader will 
share my surprise, when I state that at the request of 
Mr. Owen, Doctor Fellger, Mme. de B., Mr. Betanelly 
and myself, expressed in Italian, German, Latin, Rus- 
sian, Greek, Georgian, Turkish, French and Spanish, 
this hand within the wire-cage gave signal after signal, 
as many times in each instance as we severally indicated 
in these various languages. The hand purported to be 
that of John King, and hence I said in another place 
that he seemed to understand every language, a second 
Magliabecchi. We were as much astonished as Appol- 
lonius himself was in India, where, he tells us, the 
sages have the magical power of understanding and 
speaking the languages of those who come to them 
from the most distant countries. 

John also addressing me in English, said he would 
look after one of my sons, whose name is an unusual 



CLOSE SCRUTINY. 473 

one, and one that certainly no person in the room had 
heard me mention. 

Mr. Owen, General Lippitt and I very carefully 
scrutinized John's face as it appeared at the right 
window. It seemed perfectly natural, the eyes were 
thoroughly materialized, and were rolled about in 
every direction, by request. 

Twenty-seven persons were present that evening at the 
public seance. I attended to the bag with unusual care, 
making Mrs. Holmes keep her hands by her side con- 
stantly ; holding the mouth of the bag in such a way that 
there could be no slack ; pinning her sleeves down further 
than usual ; examining and testing the string in every way 
after that ; and then calling up every person in the room 
by turns to see if it were possible for the captive medium 
to get a hand out to play tricks. I then closed the door, 
which as usual was bolted on the inside by somebody 
'whose hands were not sealed up in a bag, and before I 
could turn down the gas, in the chandelier over my head, 
a detached hand was thrust out of the right aperture ! 
John showed himself, and I had a long conversation with 
him in French, he replying correctly by movements of 
his head. Among other things, I asked him if it was his 
own voice that had spoken to me in English that after- 
noon about my son, and he answered affirmatively. He 
allowed a number to approach, and gallantly kissed his 
hand to several of the ladies. I saw the movement of 
his lips, and the sound of the osculation was so audible 
that all in the room could hear it. It was no mask. 

There was a rattling and scraping on the wire-cage, as 
though something hard were being drawn over the 
meshes, but nothing happened inside, except that the 
curtain was drawn aside. 

Another face beside John's appeared, but it was not 
recognized. A number of hands were also shown, of 
different sizes, among them one fair, well-formed, plump 
hand of a woman, so peculiar in its shape that I examined 
Mrs. Holmes' hands after the seance, only to again 
observe the thin, long thumb, and peculiar sickle-shaped 
curve of the outer edge of the palm. 

The London Spiritualist, of February 1st, 1873, con- 
tains a bit of prima-facie evidence in favor of Katie King's 
having actually appeared through the mediumship of the 
Holmeses. It is a report of a seance at Mrs. Makdougall 
Gregory's, 21 Green St., Grosvenor Square, London, and 



474 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

the paper editorially certifies to the fact that " Katie King 
showed herself, and two old gentlemen, one with a white 
beard, and one old lady." 

In a previous number of the same paper, Mr. J. C. Lux- 
moore avers that he saw at Mr. Holmes' rooms, at n 
Old Quebec Street, the identical Katie King whom he 
had seen three times before at Hackney in the presence 
of Florence Cook. 

Finally, in the paper called The Medium and Daybreak, 
a correspondent reports, in a card dated March 24th, 1873, 
that he attended a Holmes seance " at which many spirit- 
faces were shown, among them that of the elder Katie 
King, who spoke in her usual whispers, and was very 
palpable and distinct." 

I had now been so long in Philadelphia without seeing 
the full form of Katie King that, despairing of her appear- 
ance, and having accomplished the main object of my 
experiments — to test the "materializing" powers of the 
mediums, I was growing impatient to depart. At an 
afternoon test seance, both mediums sat outside at my 
request for a time. There were rappings inside the 
cabinet, and some scrapings upon the wire-cage, but the 
experiment was a failure, and as no faces appeared, I sent 
Mr. Holmes inside, and sealed him up in a new bag I 
had had made, and pinned his sleeves to it. In five 
seconds a hand was shown at the right window : then two 
hands were shown together, and then John King appeared, 
showing me his full head and shoulders. 

At the evening seance, the usual precautions were 
taken, and as usual hands were shown and John appeared 
and spoke to me. A woman's hand and arm were thrust 
quite out of the window, and after an intermission of a 
few minutes there came a face which struck me as soon 
as I saw it as the Katie King of the Holmes photograph. 
If it was not the identical face, it at any rate seemed to 
be, and this impression was made upon the mind of Gen- 
eral Lippitt, also. I scrutinized it very closely. The 
face was not smooth and well rounded, but seemingly 
roughly finished. The eyebrows were straight and black; 
the contour of face oval, rather long and thin ; the dark 
hair lay smooth upon the brow. A gauzy white material, 
wrapped around it, framed the head, and made it look 
unnatural and ghastly. 

Our test seance began at 4 p.m. the next day. John, 
and the Katie like the photograph appeared several 



A CONUNDRUM. 475 

times. The latter borrowed General Lippitt's pocket- 
knife, and cut off and handed him a lock of her hair, 
which, upon subsequent comparison with locks in the 
possession of Mr. Owen and Dr. Fellger, was found to be 
identical in texture, and color — the latter, a peculiar 
glorious shade of golden brown. 

While looking at this head I saw something inside the 
cabinet that I would like to have some one more capable 
than myself explain : I saw the Katie King head, with 
the mouth of a bag drawn tightly about her neck as the 
bag was drawn about the medium's, and a hand, which 
was attached to an arm that came from another direction, 
took hold of and fondled mine. Now, one thing is per- 
fectly clear : this hand and arm did not belong to Mrs. 
Holmes' body, for the seal on the bag's mouth was found 
unbroken after the seance. And again, if Mrs. Holmes 
had managed to get her hand and arm out, what bag was 
that which I saw drawn tightly about the neck of the 
"Katie King" there? for the bag could not be both 
closed and open at once. I leave the Philadelphia 
Editors to display their preternatural shrewdness in 
explaining this riddle. I will help them so far as to say 
that the bag had no false lining nor slack string; there 
was no duplicate bag in the cabinet ; no confederate could 
either have been in there before the seance or got in at 
any time while it was progressing; and I have not exag- 
gerated or falsified the fact. 

On the evening of the 24th, I had the circle at my 
own lodgings, a different suite of rooms from that in 
which the former seance was held. A cabinet was 
improvised in the same manner as before, the black 
muslin curtain with apertures, hanging over the front 
door, and the other door being sealed by General Lippitt 
to prevent the admission of any person or thing from 
behind. 

Nine persons were present, including the two mediums. 
Mrs. Holmes was put into the bag, and Mr. Holmes sat 
outside the cabinet with us. I completed the sealing of 
the string, and then began to drive in a few tacks to hold 
the curtain to its place, but before I could drive the 
second tack, a detached hand was thrust into view from 
the upper aperture, quite a distance above the medium's 
head. 

John King showed himself very distinctly, and calling 
up Mr. Betanelly communicated to him, in his own 



476 THE KA TIE KING AFFAIR. 

language (the Georgian), a secret that he supposed none 
knew except himself. He kissed his hand several times, 
by request, and also saluted the cheek of a lady, who 
offered it for the purpose. I stood at the aperture and 
talked much with him, he addressing me in a voice audi- 
ble to all, and I not a foot distant from his face. Katie, 
or what purported to be she, also showed herself, but 
badly materialized, her eyes being rot more than half- 
formed. With her permission, I thrust my arm through 
to feel the medium, and Katie, whom I saw at my right 
as a dim, indistinct shape, guided my hand to the place 
by taking me by the coat sleeve. This was neces- 
sary, as the aperture was so high that I had to stand upon 
tip-toe to get my arm through, and could not look in 
Mrs. Holmes' direction while my arm was inside. I 
repeated this experiment to make assurance doubly sure, 
and this time carefully felt the medium's head, neck, 
shoulders, and passed my hand down her arm, which was 
unmistakably inside the bag, the spirit-hand clutching 
my sleeve the whole time ! Mrs. Holmes' eyes were 
tightly closed, her face was deathly cold, and her forehead 
covered with a clammy dew. 

General Lippitt was permitted to do the same thing, 
and has published an account of the seance in the Banner 
of Light, of date February 6th, 1875. General L. noticed 
in Katie's accent this evening certain dialectic peculiar- 
ities which were associated in his memory with the Katie 
he had seen last May in the Holmes seances. 

After this satisfactory experiment, I requested Mr. and 
Mrs. Holmes to favor us with a "dark seance," and, this 
being agreed to, the nine persons in the company drew 
their chairs together and joined hands, Mr. and Mrs. 
Holmes being separated from each other. Under these 
circumstances, we were all touched by invisible hands, 
myself often and in various places, sometimes three or 
four of us were touched simultaneously, a pair of hands 
were laid upon my head, a bunch of plumes was swept 
across our faces, and then a cloth of some light fabric, 
and, finally, at Mme, de B.'s order, some beautiful lights 
danced in the air over her head and then disappeared. 
These phenomena were similar to what had occurred 
almost every evening in Mrs. Holmes' "dark-circles," 
but in this instance there was absolutely no possibility 
of trickery, and this account will suffice for all. 

The next evening my last test seance was held, and it 



STARTLING PHENOMENA. 477 

was a very notable one. While my experiments had 
demonstrated beyond doubt the fact that many phe- 
nomena occur in the presence of the Holmeses, which 
are not due to trickery, yet I had seen neither Katie 
King nor any other spirit, in full form, and I was not 
entirely satisfied with the results of my labors. It was 
here that Mme. de B. brought her wonderful power to 
the test. Summoning John King, she intimated her 
will that Katie should step out of the cabinet that even- 
ing, and he wrote her with his own hand a message to 
the effect that her orders should "be obeyed." This 
communication is in my possession, and General Lippitt 
has seen it. 

A select company of six persons, besides the two 
mediums, met at Mr. Holmes' residence at 8 o'clock, 
and after taking the usual precautions against fraud 
.(including a strange exercise of Mme. de B.'s power, 
which threw Mrs. Holmes into a death-like trance, and 
so made her perfectly incapable of resorting to trickery), 
the light was dimmed, and we sat in silence waiting for 
the working of the mystic spell. 

Phenomenal disturbances soon began : raps were heard 
all over the cabinet, various voices addressed us from 
within its recesses, and a detached hand, coming oat of the 
right aperture, and gliding down the face of the cabinet, 
clutched a small hand-bell that stood upon a table, and, 
ringing it all the while, rose again to the aperture and 
disappeared with it, within. 

This last manifestation was calculated to startle one 
out of all his preconceived notions of both anatomy and 
gravity, and it really gave to the seance a most uncanny 
aspect. But the crowning test was to come. We heard 
the bolt drawn inside, and in breathless silence watched 
the cabinet door swing slowly open. I sat within a few 
feet of the entrance, and plainly saw at the threshold a 
short, thin, girlish figure, clad in white from crown to 
sole. She stood there motionless for an instant, and 
then slowly stepped forward a pace or two. By the 
obscure light we could see that she was shorter and 
much more delicately built than the medium, and her 
dress with its trailing skirt, and the long veil that com- 
pletely enveloped her form, were as crisp as though just 
from the hands of the modiste. Who she was or what she 
was, I do not know, but one thing I do know, — she was 
not Jennie Holmes, nor any puppet or confederate of 



478 THE KATIE KING AFFAIR. 

hers. And I know, further, that M:.\e. de B., who sat 
next to me, uttered one word in a strange toi gue, and 
the spectre immediately withdrew a;r noiselessly as she 
had entered. 

When the meeting broke up we found Mrs. Holmes in 
her bag, with its unbroken seals, and in so deep a cata- 
lepsy as to alarm Dr. Fellger at first. It was some 
minutes before she had either respiration or a pulse ; and 
as she is recovering I leave her and the case with these 
conclusions : 

(i). While it may be possible that either Eliza White 
or somebody else assisted the Holmeses to deceive the 
public, by personating Katie King, the evidence hitherto 
attainable does not enable us to designate any one of the 
phenomena observed and described by Mr. Owen or 
General Lippitt as probably fraudulent. The accuser of 
the Holmeses is apparently successfully impeached ; and 
her indorser, Dr. Child, shown to be incompetent to 
testify. 

The decision of the moot question being, therefore, of 
necessity made to depend upon the issue of my own 
course of experiments : 

(2). The real mediumship of both Nelson and Jennie 
Holmes, and " especially the appearance of materialized 
spirit-forms through the same," seem to be demonstrated. 

(3). The Philadelphia experiments have a most impor- 
tant bearing upon those of Mr. Crookes, in London, and 
of myself, at Chittenden, Vt., and Havana, N. Y. 

(4). The very grave question whether the visits and 
behavior of spirits are within human control, is forced 
upon our attention. Its examination, moreover, involves 
the verification or rejection, by modern scientific pro- 
cesses, of the Biblical, historical, and traditional accounts 
of intercourse between man and the angel world ; the 
definition of the laws of so-called Magic and Sorcery ; 
the formulae of evocation and exorcism ; and the moral 
effects of this intercourse upon humanity. 

We cannot afford that another day shall be lost. 
The Hour is come : let the Man step to the front. 



l 



THE COMPTON TRANSFIGURATION. 

I DO not know of any author who has defi ned the posi- 
tion which the student of science occupies in our 
day, better than Professor Huxley himself. In a 
recent essay, he says : " The only opinion he (the 
votary of scienc :) need care about, if he care for any — 
and he is all the wiser and better if he care for none — 
is that of about a dozen men, two or three in these 
islands (Great Britain), as many in America, and half 
a dozen on the continent. If these think well of his 
work, his reputation is secure from all the attacks of 
all the able editors of all the " influential organs" put 
together." 

With such encouraging words as these before me, I 
shall proceed to tell the story of my remarkable 
experience at Havana, N. Y., hoping at least to deserve 
the good opinion of their author, and the dozen col- 
leagues whom he had in mind while penning the 
sentences above quoted. If Mr. Huxley is not now 
willing to follow the theory of Evolution to its legiti- 
mate conclusions, and discover to us man as he exists 
in the spirit-world, there is satisfaction in knowing 
that the time is not far distant when he will be com- 
pelled, by the accumulation of phenomena similar to 
those hereinafter described, to acknowledge that his 
immortality is a demonstrable scientific problem. 

At one of my last interviews with the alleged spirit 
John King, in Philadelphia, he told me that if I would 
go to the village of Havana, Schuyler County, New 
York, I would see a phase of manifestation entirely 
new to this country, and the precursor of a whole 

17 



480 



THE COM ETON TRANSFIGURATION. 



series of unprecedented interest and importance. In 
short, he gave me to understand that we were about to 
witness the advent of the psychological mysteries which, 
for many ages, have been confined to the temples and 
pagodas of Egypt and Hindostan. 

Acting upon this information I found myself in the 
village designated, on the evening of the 29th of Jan- 
uary, of the present year (1875). The medium I sought 
was a poor woman, named Elizabeth J. Compton, liv- 
ing with a second husband, and the mother of nine 
children, of whom five girls and one boy are alive. 




MRS. ELIZABETH J. COMPTON. 

Her maiden name was Houghtenning, and she was 
born August 16th, 1829. On September 3d, 1848, she 
was married to George W. Souls, in the town of Bar- 
rington, Yates County, N. Y. Her husband, Souls, 
was for many years an invalid, and she supported the 
whole family by the hard labor of washing. Her 
rounded shoulders, angular frame, horny palm, and 
the fingers bent out of shape by constant immersion in 
the hot suds of the wash-tub, abundantly corroborate 
the story of her faithful exertions and honest toil. 



L 



MRS. COM r TON. 4S1 

Coming of laboring people, marrying in her own 
class, and having the cares of a large family so soon 
thrust upon her, she had no time to obtain an educa- 
tion, and she can neither read nor write. 

Like the Eddys, she inherits mediumship, her pater- 
nal grandmother and an aunt having been known as 
"witches," and reported to possess the evil-eye. Her 
maternal grandmother, an Indian squaw, was brought 
up among the whites, but was not unfamiliar with the 
rude sorceries that prevailed among her people. Like 
the case of the Eddys, also, the mechanic power 
descends to her children. I sat at a table alone with 
the youngest, a pretty little girl of five years, and with 
my hand laid upon her tiny little hands, the rappings 
occurred all over the table. This child is also said 
to be clairvoyant, as well as several of her sisters. 

Mrs. Compton first saw a spirit when a child of 
"nine years, and after that her lucidity was frequently 
demonstrated. The exceedingly limited space at my 
command forbids mention of many instances, related to 
me by herself, of visions, prophetic warnings, and 
encounters with spiritual beings that occurred in her 
experience. Suffice it to say that they were of a charac- 
ter similar to those which have been fully described in 
this book in connection with the psychological history 
of the members of the Eddy family. 

. Her mediumship for physical phenomena dates 
from March 1873, when a neighbor, calling in one 
evening, proposed that they should " form a circle " in 
the chamber where Mr. Souls was lying sick. She 
was so little familiar with Spiritualism that she sup- 
posed the circle meant was the " praying-circle " of the 
Methodists, and readily consented. A table was drawn 
up near the bed, and, taking their places at it, she says 
she was astonished to hear rappings under their hands, 
and still more so when a communication was spelled out, 
purporting to come from a young man named Melville 
Barton, who had been murdered a day or two before, 
and for whose body search was then being made. The 
spirit described the murder, and indicated where his 
body would be found ; which information the next day 
proved to be true. 

Sittings of a similar character were held frequently 
after this, and the rappings grew louder and louder. 
Mr. Souls finally died, and then he, too, began to 



■■ 



BBE 



482 THE COM P TON TRANSFIGURATION. 

manifest his presence in the spirit, One night a slate 
belonging to Mr. Souls was lying upon a projecting 
timber in the room, and she heard the noise of the 
pencil moving over its surface, although no person 
was near it. Upon examination, it was discovered 
that a communication had been written upon the slate 
by an invisible hand ; and after that this form of man- 
ifestation was repeated very frequently. 

On the evening of the 12th of February 1874, her 
present husband, Mr. Compton, being at the house, it 
was proposed that they should try to get " materializa- 
tions," and accordingly a blanket was tacked over a 
door-way for the experiment. Six spirit-hands were 
shown around the edges of the blanket, and the affair 
becoming known, the experiment was repeated in 
many houses in Havana and the adjacent village of 
Watkins, with uniformly satisfactory results. Before 
long, the figure of a spirit-child appeared, and then 
faces and busts of various persons were shown. In 
April, the spirits began to talk in their own voices, 
and flowers and other material objects were displayed. 

On the 6th of September, a young girl, calling her- 
self Katie Brink, an Indian warrior of the Seneca tribe, 
and a squaw named "Starlight" stepped out of the 
improvised cabinet, in full form. Since the date men- 
tioned, only six different spirits have walked out, viz: 
Katie Brink, the Seneca, Starlight, Katie Weaver, a 
Mrs. Rhodes and the Rev. Gardiner Crum. No more 
than three have appeared upon any one evening, and 
usually only two — Seneca and Katie Brink — are seen. 

Such are the statements made to me by Mrs. Compton 
and corroborated by other persons. I repeat them 
without comment. 

The seances are now held in a second-story chamber, 
fifteen feet square, and devoted exclusively to this pur- 
pose. Across one corner, a plastered partition has 
been run, forming a triangular cupboard, or closet, 
just large enough to admit of a person sitting in the 
apex of the triangle. There is no window, trap or 
outlet, the walls being all solid, and the floor securely 
fastened down, with the boards running under the 
mop-board, except one which is badly matched ; but 
this is nailed to the joists by a dozen nails, and cannot 
be pried up without breaking it into pieces. The 
angles of three rooms join directly underneath this 



L 



THE "BRIDE OF CORINTH." 



483 



cabinet, and the ceilings of all are perfectly solid. The 
following sketch gives an idea of the external appear- 
ance of the cabinet. 

It will be observed that there is no aperture in the 
wall, but an open space is left by sawing off the upper 




MRS. COMPTON'S CABINET. 



portion of the door ; across this opening a curtain of 
black muslin stretches upon a wire inside the frame. 

My first seance with the medium was on the evening 
of January 30th. The spectators, numbering a half- 
dozen sat upon chairs in the room, about eight feet from 
the cabinet. Mrs. Compton took her seat on the chair 
inside, the lamp in the room was turned down very 
low, and for a long time nothing interesting occurred. 
Finally the door opened and the figure of an Indian 
appeared on the threshold, spoke to us, greeted me 
cordially, but did not emerge, as he said the medium 
was in too weak and prostrated a condition to afford 
him the power requisite. 

The following evening, the girl Katie Brink showed 
herself, and walked about, touching various persons, 
patting their heads and cheeks. Clad in a flowing robe 
of crisp white muslin, her head covered with a bride-veil 
that fell down to her knees, gliding about with velvet 



484 THE CO MP TON TRANSFIGURATION. 

footsteps, speechless, and half-seen in the obscurity, she 
reminded me of Goethe's Bride of Corinth : 

" By the waning lamp's uncertain gleaming 
There he sees a youthful maiden stand, 

Robed in white, of still and gentle seeming, 
On her brow a black and golden band." 

Passing from the other spectators, she came to me, 
sitting apart and with one hand laid against the cabinet 
wall, and first gently stroking my head, she sat upon my 
knee, and passing an arm over my shoulder kissed me 
upon my left cheek. Her weight seemed scarcely as 
much as that of a child of eight years, but her arm felt 
solid upon my shoulder, and the lips that caressed me 
were as natural as life. By pre-arrangement, I passed 
into the cabinet, while the girl was outside, and found no 
medium there, although I not only examined every nook, 
but, the better to assure myself that I was not 'psycholo- 
gized,' felt the chair, the walls and all the space about. 

There could be but one alternative here : Either the 
' spirit ' was no spirit, but the medium, or, the medium 
had been transfigured, after the fashion of the Oriental 
thaumaturgists. I determined to settle that question 
conclusively before leaving town. 

The next evening, having obtained Mrs. Compton's 
cheerful consent to submit to my tests, I removed her 
earrings, and seating her in the chair in the cabinet, 
fastened her in it bypassing some "No. 50" sewing- 
thread through the perforations in her ears, and sealing 
the ends to the back of the chair, with sealing-wax, which 
I stamped with my private signet. I then fastened the 
chair to the floor, with thread and wax in a secure 
manner. 

Observe, in the sketch, how impossible it was for her 
to move an inch from her place : she could not have been 
more firmly fixed to her seat, if irons had been passed 
through her flesh, and riveted in the wood. A slight pull 
would suffice to snap the frail thread, and betray her 
attempt to cheat. 

The persons present, beside myself and the medium, 
were John S. Smith, and J. H. Hardy, of Elmira, N. Y ; 
Mrs. Florence Beardsley, of London, Canada; Benjamin 
Wickes, of Havana, N. Y; David Lee, of Washington; 
Mrs. Margaret Compton, of Havana ; William Anderson 
and friend, of Watkins ; Mr. Peter Compton ; and two of 



A CRUCIAL TEST. 



435 



the medium's little girls. All but myself sat upon chairs 
placed in a double row opposite the cabinet door; and I 
took my place near the railing of the stairway, not more 
than five feet from the same. In front of me stood a 
Fairbanks platform-scale, which, in hope of verifying the 
Chittenden weighing experiment, I had procured for the 
occasion. 

The light being lowered, as is usual in these seances, 
and the cabinet-door closed, we sang vigorously for some 
minutes, when across the aperture above the door floated 
a pair of hands, from left to right,and then disappeared. 
Then came another pair of larger size ; and then a voice, 
(which, if not that of the late Daniel Webster, was its 




MRS. COMPTON SECURED. 

counterpart in depth, sonorousness, and fullness of tone 
as I recall it to memory), addressed me, giving me full 
instructions and cautions as to how I was to proceed. 
In entering the cabinet while the spirit was outside, I 
was at liberty to feel everywhere, and satisfy myself that 
the medium was not there, but I must be careful not to 
actually touch the chair. I might pass my hands as near 
it as I chose, but actual contact with its substance I was 
requested to avoid. Then, again, I was to lay upon the 
platform of the scale a covering of some kind so that the 



486 



THE CO MP TON TRANSFIGURATION. 



spirit need not come into contact with the wood or metal. 
I promised compliance, and soon had the satisfaction 
to see the white-robed girl in the open doorway. She 
stepped out, moved around, touched several persons, and 
then approached the scale. I sat ready with one hand 
upon the poise and the other at the end of the beam, and 
as she stepped up, took her weight without the loss of a 
second. She then retired into the cabinet; whereupon, 
lighting a parlor-match, I read the figures. She weighed 




WEIGHING THE SPIRIT-GIRL. 

only seventy-seven lbs., although she had not the stature 
of a child. Can the reader imagine my feelings as I sat 
there in the gloom, not more than a foot-and-a-half from 
a speechless and veiled figure, a supposed visitor from 
the other world, who had gathered unto herself an evan- 
escent corporeal body, of which my scales could now take 
cognizance, and the next moment would be dissipated 
into a vapor more unsubstantial than the electric fluid 
itself? This was, indeed, being face to face with the 
dead, or rather with the quick who had tasted death, and 



ORDEAL BY WEIGHT. 487 

passed on into an immortal life where death is known no 
more, and the grave is regarded as the birth-bed of the 
human race. 

The spirit came out again, and then I entered the 
cabinet, looking carefully everywhere, and feeling 
cautiously but thoroughly all about, but, as before, 
finding no vestige of the medium. The chair was there, 
but no bodily presence sat in it. 

I then asked the spirit-girl to make herself lighter 
if possible and she stepped again upon my scales. As 
rapidly as before, I got the beam at poise, and, she 
retiring as before, I read the figure— fifty-nine pounds. 

She appeared yet again, and this time passed from 
one to another of the spectators, patting this one's 
head, the other's hand, sitting upon Mr. Hardy's knee, 
laying her hand gently upon my head, stroking my 
cheek, and then mounting the scale for me to make my 
final test. This time she weighed only fifty-two pounds, 
although from first to last there had been no apparent 
alteration in her dress or bulk. 

The scientific reader will now recall the weighing 
of Honto by Mr. Pritchard, and be pleased to see the 
figures in comparison with those above : 



Spirit " Honto." 


Spirit " Katie Brink." 


1st weighing, 1 88 lbs. 
2d " 58 " 
3d " 58 " 
4th " 65 " 


1st weighing, 

2d 

3d 


77 lbs. 

59 " 

52 •< 


Average, 67% lbs. 


Average, 


62% lbs. 



It is quite unnecessary to dwell upon the importance 
of these experiments as opening up a most remarkable 
field of scientific inquiry. It is to be regretted that I 
was prevented, (by the necessity of completing this 
volume to fulfill publishers' engagements), from pursu- 
ing the subject; but a beginning has, at least, been 
made. I should add that the ascertained stature of 
Honto is 5 feet 5 inches; while that of the Havana 
spirit, as by actual measurement, varied within ten 
minutes, from 4 feet 10^ to 4 feet 8f. These measure- 
ments were not taken upon the same evening as the 
weighing, but at the preceding seance. Upon this 
occasion I found Mrs. Compton's height to be 5ft. 4 
inches, and the Indian chiefs 5ft. 5f inches. 

After the weighing " Katie" appeared no more; but 
17* 



488 THE COM P TON TRANSFIGURATION. 

after a few minutes had elapsed we were addressed in 
the guttural base of the Indian chief, and he showed 
himself at the door. A colloquy ensued in the Indian 
language between him and Mr. Hardy, who lived some 
years among the Western tribes, and who certified to 
the reality of the speech uttered by the spectre chief. 
The Seneca again could not come out because of alleged 
lack of power, but before retiring he gave a terrific 
war-whoop that made the rafters ring again, and then 
a peace-whoop as an adieu. This " manifestation " 
alone would seem to indicate that the poor, nervously 
fluttering medium had no part in the appearance of at 
least this one spectre. 

After the brave's retirement, we had some more 
conversation with sundry spirit-voices, and then the 
light being turned up, various faces floated into sight 
above the door and faded away, and then the circle 
closed. 

I went inside with a lamp, and found . . . the 
medium just as I left her at the beginning of the seance, 
with every thread unbroken and every seal undisturbed! 
She sat. there, with her head leaning against the wall, 
her flesh as pale and as cold as marble, her eyeballs 
turned up beneath the lids, her forehead covered with 
a death-like damp, no breath coming from her lungs, 
and no pulse at her wrist. When every person had 
examined the threads and seals, I cut the flimsy bonds 
with a pair of scissors, and, lifting the chair by its back 
and seat, carried the cataleptic woman out into the 
open air of the chamber. 

She lay thus inanimate for eighteen minutes; life 
gradually coming back to her body, until respiration 
and pulse and the temperature of her skin became 

normal I then put her upon the scale. .... 

She weighed one hundred and twenty-one pounds I 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



OF SPIRITUALISM AND THE OCCULT SCIENCES. 

Compiled for "People from the Other World" by W. I. 
Fletcher, Ass't. Librarian of the Watkinson Library of Reference, 
Hartford, Conn., in which library a large proportion of the rare 
books in the early part of the list may be found. 

It will be noticed that in consequence of lack of space the depart- 
ments of Astrology, Mythology, Folk-Lore, Speculative Philosophy, 
Theology and many others cognate to our subject have not been 
entered. For the same reason, I omit very recent works^ upon 
■Spiritualism. 

BATE. 

B.C. 

475. Plato 

20. Plutarch. . 

A. D. 

50. Cicero. . 
150. Apuleius, L. 

(?) 475. Proclus 

(?) 1300. Bacon, R. . 

1324. Letlrede, R. de. . 

1450. Anania, J. L. d' 
(?) 1480. Institoris, H. 

1483. Basin, B. C. . 
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1514. Reuchliuus, J. 

1517. 
(?) 1520, Champier, B. C. S. . 

1521. Prierio, S. dc. 

1531. Aggrippa von Nettesheim 

1544. Molitor, U. 

1547. Ciruelo, M. 

1553. Peucer, C. 

1561. Coxe. F. 

1563. Wier, J. ... 

1567. Cattanl, F. da D. . 

1570. Lavater, L. 

1575. Hcmmingius.N. 

1578. Node, F. P. . . 

1579. Masse, P. 

1580. Bodin, J. 

1580. Mengus, H. 
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1581. Andreas Hyperius. 

1583. Vair, L. du. 

1584. Scott, Reginald. 

1586. Loier, P. de. 

1587. Faust. 
1587. Gyfford. G. . 

1589. Porta, J. B. 

1590. Holland, H. 

1591. Binsfeld, P. 
1591. Godelmann, J.G. 

1596. Lodge, T-. 

1597. James VI. 

1598. Goldschmid, P- 

1598. Taillepied, N. 

1599. Davies, Sir J. 



H. S. O. 

TITLE. 

. De rebus divinis dlalogi. 
Moralia. 

. De dlvinatione, de fato, etc. 

De deo Socratis. 
. De anlma atque demonae. 

Miracles of art, nature and magiclc. 
. Proceedings against, dame Kyteler. 

De magia et maleflciis. 
. Malleus malencarum. 
. Tractatus de magicis artibus. 

De lamiis et phitonicis mulicribus. 
. De verbo miriflco. 

De arte cabalistica. 

Magicarum artium destructionem. 
. Strigimagarum daemonunique mirandis. 
C. De occulta philosophia. 
. Hexen Mysterei. 

Reprovaciones de las superstitlones. 
. De praecipuis divinationum generibus. 

Detestable wickedness of mag. sciences. 
. Die praestigiis daemonum. 

Superstizione dell' arte niaglca. 
. De spectris, lemuribus, etc. 

De superstitionibus magicis vitandis. 
. Erreur execrable desmaiinciers.sorciers. 

De Timposture et tromperie des diables. 

• La Demonomanie des sorciers. 
Flagellum daemonum. 

• De natura daemonum. 

The deuils shewers of magical artcs, etc. 
. De fascino. 

Discovery of witchcraft. 
. Spectres, visions, and apparitions. 

Zauberer und Schwartzkunstler. 
. Subtle practices of deuils. 

Magiae naturaliB. 
. Treatise against witchcraft. 

De confessionibus maleflcorum. 
. De magis, veneflcis et lamiis. 

The deuil conjured. 
. Demonology, in form of a dialogue. 

Der hollische Morpheus. 
. Psicologie, ou l'apparition des esprits. 

Nosce te ipsum. 



Note. The titles are arranged according to date of publication. Only the first 
edition of each work is given, and no account is made of translations. 

4 8 9 



49° BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

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1600. Michaelis, F. S Discourse of spirits. 

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1601. Deacon and Walker. . . Dialogicall discourses of Devils. 

1601. Heilbronn, J. ... Daemonomania pistoriana. 

1602. Boquet, H. .... Discours execrable des sorciers. 
1610. Hildebrandt, W. Magiae naturalis. 

1612. Mason, J. ..... The anatomie of sorcerle. 

1613. Lancre, P. de Tableau des mauvais anges et demons. 

1613. Michaelis, F .S. . . . History of a magician. 

1613. Salkeld, J. . ... A treatise on angels. 

1617. " " A treatise of Paradise. 

1620. Campanella, T De sensu rerum. 

1626. Guaccius, M. ... Compendium maleficarum. 

1627. Niess, J Alphabetum diaboli. 

1639. Roscetti, G De angelis et daemonibus. 

1641. Castrensis, S. R. . . . De spiritibus. 

1641. Le Petit, C De spiritibus creatis daemonibus, etc. 

1650. Vaughn, T. .... Anima magica abscondita. 

1651. " " .... Lumen delumine; or, The new mag. light. 
1651. Bekker, B Te betoouerde weereld. 

1656. Grosse, H Magica de spectris et apparitionibus. 

1658. Bromhall Treatise of spirits. 

1658. Perreau, F Dem. ou traite des demons et sorciers. 

1659. Relation of what passed between John Dee and some spirits. 

1661. Praetorius, J Thesaurus chiromantise. 

1662. Glanvil, J Lux orien : eastern sages on pre-exist. 

1663. Spencer, J. .... Discourse concerning prodigies. 
1666. Glanvill, J A blow at modern Sadducism. 

1670. Villars, Abbe de. ... Comte de Gab. ou ent. sur les scl. sec. 

1677. Webster, J Displaying of supposed witchcraft. 

1678. Doctrine of Devils the grand apostacy of these later times. 

1680. Lebenwald, A Cu. trakt. von des teufel in der Heb. Cab. 

1680. " " Damographia, etc. 

1684. Bovet. R Pandemoniun; or, the devil's cloyster. 

1685. Angeliere, B Lux magica. 

1685. Sinclair, G Satan's invisible world discovered. 

1686. Mather, I. .... Superstitious customs in New England. 
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1691. De Daillon, M. ... Explication de la doctrine des demons. 

1692. Mather, C Tryals of divers witches at Salem. 

1693. Lebrun, P L'illusion des philosophessur la baguette. 

1693. Mather, C Wonders of the invisible world. 

1693. Mather, I Further account of tryals of witches. 

1693. Vallemont, P La physique occulte. 

1694. Burthogge, R. . . . Essay upon the nature of spirits. 

1696. Telfair, A. . . . , . Acts, of spt. wch. infested h. A. Mackle. 

1699. Burthogge, R. ... Of the soul of the world. 

1700. Poupart, F Sue l'apparition des esprits. 

1703. Buesching, G, ... De potentia diaboli in corpora. 

1703. Reichen, J Unfug des hexenprocessen. 

1705. Beaumont, J. jr. . . . Treatise of spirits, apparitions, etc. 

1705. Goldschmidt, P Hexen— und zauber— advocat. 

1710. Bordelon.L Imaginations extravagantes de M. Oufle. 

1712. Naude, G Apol. pour les personages de magie, etc. 

1712. Stebbing, H Case of the Hertfordshire witchcraft. 

1714. Meisner, I De apparitionibus daetnonum. 

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1715. Boulton, B. .... History of magic, sorcery, witchcraft. 

1716. Reuter, S. H. ... Das Reich des Teufels. 

1716. Sturmy, D The separate state of souls. 

1718. Hutchinson, F. . , . Historical essay on witchcraft. 
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1721. Aubrey, J Miscellanies : [app. knocking**, etc.] 

1722. Boulton, R Vindication of This] history of magic. 

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1727. " " . .... System of maglck. 

1728. Du Lude, Comte. . . . Daimonologia; or, a treatise of spts. 

1729. Byler, H. Cyan. . . . Tract, cab. chym. philos. malleus. 

1732. Le Brun, P Histoire des pratiques superstitieuses. 

1733. Boyer,— . .... Coup d'oeil sur les convulsions. 
1735. Gilpin. R Demonologia sacra. 

1737. Montgeron, L, B. C. de. . La verite des miracles. 

1739. Hauber, E. D Bibliotheca acta et scripta magica. 

1745. Perronet.V Enquiries relating to spiritual beings. 

1751. Calmet, A Traite sur les apparitions des esprits. 

1751. Lenglet du Fresnoy, N. . Traite sur les apparitions. 

1767. Cauz, C. F. de De cultibus magicis. 

1770. Compleat wizard; narratives of ghosts, demons, and spectres. 

1775. Farmer, H Demoniacks of the New Testament. 

1775. Haen, A. de De magi. 



L 



BIBLIOGRAPH Y. 49 1 

1777. Worthington, W. . . The gospel demonlacka. 

1779. Fell, J. • Demoniacs. 

1781. Halle, J. S Magle, oder zauperkrafte tier natur. 

1781. Mayer, J. G. . . Hlstoria diaboll. 

1784. Decremps, M* ... La magle blanche devollee. 

1783. Farmer, H Wor. of hum. spts. by ancient heathens. 

1790. Libby, E Astrology; or, ill. of occult sciences. 

1797. Dedekind, G. E. W. . . , Dokinaion; oder Geister der verst. etc. 

1801. Barrett, F. . The magus, or celestial intelligencer. 

1805. Bentley, J The spiritual telescope. 

1807. Sharp, G Case of Saul, and influence of demons. 

1808. Jung-Stilling, J. H. . . Theorie der Geisterkunde. 

1813. Brand, J. . . . . Observations on popular antiquites. 

1813. Ferriar, J. .... Essay towards a theory of apparitions. 

1818. Garlnet, J Histoire de la magie en France. 

1818. Horst, G. C Damonomagie. 2v. 

1818. Plaucy, C. de. . Dlctionnaire Infernal. 2 v. 

1821. Horst, G. C. . . . . Zauberblbliothek. 6. v. 

1823. Accredited ghost stories, to counteract the vulgar belief. 

1823. Stewart, W. G. ... Popular superstitions of Highlanders. 

1824. Hlbbert, S Philosopny of apparitions. 

1825. Carlyle.W Essay on evil spirits. 

1830. Horst. G. C Deuteros. oder, etc., der pneumatologle. 

1830. Newnham, W. ... Essay on superstition. 

1830. Scott, Sir W Letters on demonology and witchcraft. 

1831. Demonologiaj an expose of superstitions ; by J. S. F. 

1831. Upham, C. W. . . . Lectures on Salem witchcraft. 

1834. Godwin, W Lives of the necromancers. 

1834. Stilling, W Der Zusamm. der Lele mit Gelsterwelt. 

1835. Thaumaturgla ; or, elucidations of the marvellous. 

1841. Mackay, C Extraordinary popular delusions. 

v 1842. Ennemoser, J. ... Der magnetismus. 

1843. Franck, A La Kabbale. 

1843. Scott, Rev. Walter. . . Existence of evil spirits proved. 

1843. Soldan, W. G Geschichte der hexenprocesse. 

1845, Davis, A. J Principles of nature. 

1845. Scheible, J Das Kloster, weltlich und geistllch. 

1846. Giraldo, M. de. ... Hist. sore, dev., mag., vamp., etc. 

1846. Scheible,J Das Schaltjahr, welch, ist der teu. Kalen. 

1847. Deucly, W. C. ... Philosophy of mystery. 

1849. Crowe Mrs. C Night side of nature : or, ghosts, etc. 

1850. Burnett, CM. ... The philosophy of spirits. 

1850. Davis, A. J The great harmonia. 6 v. 

1851. Colquhoun, J. C. . . . History of magic. 

1851. Davis, A. J. Philosophy of spiritual intercourse. 

1851. Wright, T. .... Narratives of magic, sorcery, etc. 

1852. Elliott, C. W Mysteries, or glimpses of the supernat. 

1852. Hammer— Purgstall, J. . Geisterlehre der Moslimen. 

1852. The spiritual medium ; its nature illustrated. 

1853. Beecher, C. .... Keview of "spiritual" manifestations. 
1855. Capron, E. W. . . . Mod. spiritualism; facts and fanaticisms. 
1853. Edmonds, J. W. and Dexter, G. T. Spiritualism. 

1853. Ghost stories ; edited by T. M. Jarvis. 

1853. Ross, J. H The spirit-world; or, the caviller ans. 

1853. Spirit-rappings in England and America. 

1853. Webber, C. W Spiritual vampirism. 

1854. Brownson.O. A. . . . The spirit-rapper ; an autobiography. 
1854. Apocatastasis, The; or, progress backwards. 

1854. Radcliffe, J. N. . . . Fiends, ghosts, and spirits. 

(?) 1855. Dods, J. B Spt. manifes. examined and explained. 

1855. Hare, R Spiritualism scientifically explained. 

1855. Linton, C Healing of the nations. 

1855. Mattlson, H Spirit-rapping unveiled. 

1855. Schleiden, M. J Uber Zauberei und Geisterspuk. 

1855. Smedley, E., and others. . History of the occult sciences. 

1855. Tuttle, H Scenes in the spirit-world. 

1856. Davis, A. J Penetralia; ans. to important questions. 

1856. Salverte, E Des sciences occultes. 

1856. Daniels, J. W. ... Spiritualism vs. Christianity. 

1856. Maitland, Rev. Dr. . . . Science and superstition. 

(?) 1856. Ramsay, W Spiritualism a Satanic delusion. 

(?) 1856. Young, Jacob Autobiography. 

1857. Guldenstubbe, L. de. . Reallte des esprits. 

1857. The spiritualist ; an exposition of psychology. 

(?) 1858. Brittan, S. B. and Hanson, D. D.Oral discussion at Hartford. 

1858. Bushnell, H. .... Nature and the supernatural. 

1858. Wilkinson. W. M.. . . Spirit drawings ; a personal narrative. 

1859. Owen, R. D. ... Footfa. on the bound, of another world. 
(?) 1859. Samson, G. W Spiritualism tested. 

1860. Jones, J Natural and the Supernatural. 

1860. La Grange, A/F. de. . . Le grand livre de festln. 

1860. Tuttle, H Arcana of spiritualism. 

1861. Levi, E La haute magie. 



49* 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1861. Linden, E.L. (ed.) . . . "Witch stories. 

1862. Michelet. J La sorclere. 

1862. Welby, H Signs before death and auth'cat'd app'ns. 

1863. Bizouard, J Rapports de l'liomme avec le demon. 

1863. Denton, W and E. . . . The soul of things. 

1863. From matter to spirit; experience of spirit manifestations. 

1863. Home, D. D Incidents in my life. 

1863. Howitt, W History of the supernatural. 

1863. Mary Jane : or spiritualism chemically explained. 

1864. De Caston, M Les marchandes de miracles. 

1864. Gastineau, B Monsieur et Madame Satan. 

1864. Maury, A La magic et l'astrologie. 

1864, Mousseaux, C. des. ... La magie au 19e siecle. 

1864. " '*..... Phenomenes de la magie. 

1865. Gould, S. Baring. . . . Book of were-wolves. 

1865. Blanc, H Le merveilleux dans le spiritisms, etc. 

1865. Kardec, A Le ciel et l'enfer, selon le spiritisme. 

1865. Levi, E Le science des esprlts. 

1865. Remarks on certain phenomena. 
1865. Spiritualism and other signs ; by E. S. 

1865. Mousseaux, C. des. . . . Moeurs et pratiques des demons. 

1866. Lecky, W. E. H History of rationalism in Europe. 

1867. Ashburner, J Animal magnetism and spiritualism. 

1867. The invisibles j an explanation of phenomena called spiritual. 

1867. Kardec, A Le Uvre des esprits. 

1867. " " Le livre des mediums. 

1867. TJpham, C. W History of Salem witchcraft. 

1868. Blauvelt, A The kingdom of Satan. 

1868. Brown, J. P The dervishes ; or oriental spiritualism. 

1868. Kardec, A Le genese et les miracles selon le sptsme. 

1869. Biddle, D. . . . . . The spirit controversy. 

1869. Phelps, E. S Gates ajar. 

1869. Roskoff, G Geschlchte des Teufels. 

1869. Sargent, E. . . . . Planchette, the despair of science. 

1869. Peeble, J. M Seers of the Ages. 

1870. Hardinge, E History of spiritualism in America. 

1870. Randolph, P. B. . . . After Death. 

1871. Delaporte The d-1; does he exist andwh'tdoeshe do. 

1871. McRae, T Lectures on Satan. 

1871. Massey, G Concerning spiritualism. 

1871. Owen, R. D Deb't'ble land bet. this w'ld and the n'xt. 

1871. Reville, A The d-1 ; origin greatness and decadence. 

1871. Tyler, E. B. ..... Primitive culture. 

1872. Beard, J. R. . Autobiography of Satan. 
1872. Cobbe, Frances P. . . . Darwinism In'morals. 

1872. Cox, E. W. .... Spiritualism answered by science. 

1873. Crosland, N". . . . . New theory of apparitions. 
1873. De Vere, M. S Modern magic. 

1873. Lum, D. D The spiritual delusion. 

1873. Owen, R. D. . Threading my way ; 27 years of my auto. 
1873. "Where are the dead? or spiritualism explained. 

1873. Zerffi, G. G Spiritualism and. inimal magnetism. 

1873. London Dialectical Soc'y. . Report on Spiritualism. 

1873. Davis, A. J The Diakka and the Earthly Victims. 

1874. Crookes, W Researches in the phenomena of sp't'sm. 

1S74. Lenormant, F La magie chez les Chaldeens. 

1874. Laville, B. W Apparitions ; a narrative of facts. 

1874. Wallace, A. R Defence of modern spiritualism. 

1874. Peebles, J. M., and J. O. Bassett.The Gadarene. 

1874. Crowell, E. W Identity bet. Prim. Chr. and Mod. Spm. 

1875. Sargent, E Proof palpable of immortality. 

1875. Olcott, H. S People from the other World. 

Note. The above list, Imperfect as I have been forced to make It, indicates In a 
slight degree the attention which has been given by writers, during the past 
twenty-four centuries, to the subject of man's relation to the other world. But 
orientalists can quote to the student a list, almost as long, of works of a like 
character, among the Chinese, Japanese, Hindoos, Egyptian, Arabs, and other 
"Heathen "nations, the authorship of which is, In many case* lost among the 
mists of antiquary. Without recourse to these, however, enough titles are herein 

firen to show that spiritualism is "modern " only in name ; while, upon consul t- 
ug their pages, the reader will be astounded at the multitudinous prototypes, 
which exist of every " manifestation " reported as occurring in these latter days 
in the presence of mediums. 



THE END. 



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